In 1511, leaders in Mecca believed coffee stimulated radical thinking and outlawed the drink. In 1524, the leaders overturned that order, and people could drink coffee again.
SPUNK
heart, mettle, nerve, spunk
(noun) the courage to carry on; “he kept fighting on pure spunk”; “you haven’t got the heart for baseball”
kindling, tinder, touchwood, spunk, punk
(noun) material for starting a fire
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
spunk (usually uncountable, plural spunks)
(countable, obsolete) A spark.
(uncountable) Touchwood; tinder.
(countable, chiefly, Scotland, obsolete) A piece of tinder, sometimes impregnated with sulphur; a match.
(uncountable) Courage; spirit; mettle; determination.
(countable, UK, Australia, New Zealand, slang) An attractive person (normally male).
Synonyms: Adonis, beefcake, hunk
(uncountable, chiefly, UK, vulgar, slang) Semen.
Verb
spunk (third-person singular simple present spunks, present participle spunking, simple past and past participle spunked)
(intransitive, obsolete) To catch fire; flame up.
(slang, vulgar) To ejaculate.
Anagrams
• punks
Source: Wiktionary
Spunk (spûnk), n. Etym: [Gael. spong, or Ir. sponc, tinder, sponge; cf. AS. sponge a sponge (L. spongia), spon a chip. Cf. Sponge, Punk.] [Written also sponk.]
1. Wood that readily takes fire; touchwood; also, a kind of tinder made from a species of fungus; punk; amadou. Sir T. Browne.
2. An inflammable temper; spirit; mettle; pluck; as, a man of spunk. [Colloq.] A lawless and dangerous set, men of spunk, and spirit, and power, both of mind and body. Prof. Wilson.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
18 April 2025
GROIN
(noun) the crease at the junction of the inner part of the thigh with the trunk together with the adjacent region and often including the external genitals
Coffee Trivia
