English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ʌŋk

Noun

1. A prostitute.
   • , V.i.

     My lord, she may be a punk; for many of them are neither maid, widow, nor wife.

2. In the context of "19th century|rare": The bottom in a male-male sexual relationship; a catamite.

   Because he was so weak, Vinny soon became Tony's punk.

3. In the context of "US|prison|_|slang": A male used for sex by larger or stronger inmates.
   • 1946, Mezz Mezzrow & Bernard Wolfe, Really the Blues, Payback Press 1999, p. 15:

     A punk, if you want it in plain English, is a boy with smooth skin who takes the place of a woman in a jailbird's love life.

4. A social and musical movement rooted in rebelling against the established order.
5. The music of the punk movement, known for short songs with electric guitars, strong drums, and a direct, unproduced approach.
6. A person subscribing to the movement, a punk rocker.

   Usage note: An informal plural used within the punk subculture is punx.

7. A worthless person.
8. A juvenile delinquent, young petty criminal or trouble-maker.
9. A utensil for lighting wicks or fuses (such as those of fireworks) resembling stick incense.
   • 1907, Jack London, The Road, http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/14658

     On the end a coal of fire slowly smouldered. It would last for hours, and my cell-mate called it a "punk."

   • 1994, Ashland Price, Viking Tempest, p353

     Then, without another word, he rose and left the shelter, apparently in order to light the vessel's wick with a punk from the dying campfire.

   • 2004, Shawn Shiflett, Hidden Place, p221

     He raised the cylinder high in the air with his bare hand, used a punk to light the fuse, and KABOOM!

10. Various kinds of material used as tinder for lighting fires, such as agaric, dry decayed wood or touchwood.http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?resource=Webster%27s&word=punk&use1913=on
    • 1899, H. B. Cushman, History of the Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians, p271

      On one occasion a venerable old Indian man, who, in order to light his pipe, was trying to catch a spark upon a piece of punk struck from his flint and steel; ...

    • 1922, Harry Ignatius Marshall, The Karen People of Burma, p61

      The oil is mixed with bits of dry wood or punk and moulded into sticks about a cubit long and an inch in diameter by putting it into joints of small bamboo.

    • 2001, William W. Johnstone, War of the Mountain Man, p116

      He made him a little smoldering pocket of punk to light the fuses and waited.

Translations