spunky, a.
(ˈspʌŋkɪ)
Also 8 spunkey, 8–9 spunkie.
[f. spunk n. + -y.]
1. Full of spunk or spirit; courageous, mettlesome, spirited.
| (a) 1786 Burns Earnest Cry & Prayer xiv, Erskine, a spunkie norland billie. 1793 in W. Roberts Looker-on (1794) II. 312 A strapping lassie, So spunky, brazen, bold, and saucy. 1805 Lamb Lett. (1888) I. 221 Vittoria Corombona, a spunky Italian lady, a Leonardo one, nicknamed the White Devil. 1829 Landor Imag. Conv. Wks. 1853 I. 520/1 They are grown again as young and spunky as undergraduates. 1884 Cent. Mag. 428 Spunk will sometimes carry a man through, and you can't say he ain't spunky. |
| (b) 1804 C. Smith Conversations, etc. I. 26, I always get him upon a spunky horse, and the fun is to see his contrivances to stick fast, while I dash on, on purpose. 1856 Aird Poet. Wks. 130 All the year she sings.., The spunky little bird. 1873 C. Gibbon Lack of Gold x, He's a spunky wee beggar, that bantam. |
b. Characterized by animation or spirit.
| 1831 Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXX. 408 He..has repartee at his command, and occasionally rises into spunky declamation. |
2. Sc. and
north. Sparkling; burning or shining brightly.
| 1791 Nairne Poems 131 For rotton wood will give i' th' dark The spunkey semblance of a spark. 1802 R. Anderson Cumbld. Ball. 32 How neyce the spunky fire it burns. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Spunky, sparkling. |
3. dial. and
U.S. Angry, irritable, irascible.
| 1809 Debates in Congress (1853) 31 Jan. 1259 It may be a spunky spiteful child, but will have no strength. 1822 Galt Provost xxvi, The spunky nature of Mr. Hirple was certainly very disagreeable often to most of the council. 1873 W. Carleton Farm Ball. 7 We was both of us cross and spunky, and both too proud to speak. |