skunker

English

Etymology

From skunk +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

  • Rhymes: -ʌŋkə(ɹ)

Noun

skunker (plural skunkers)

  1. (slang, uncommon) A skunk.
  2. (Canada, US, historical, dated) A person who hunts skunks.
    • 1894 January 26, “"Podgers" Commentaries”, in Forest and Stream‎[1], volume XLII, number 6, New York, New York: Forest and Stream Publishing Company, page 114:
      Again the old fellow chuckled and answered, "A counter with em? Well I guess so. That's my business, I am what we tarm up here a skunker. Me and Gineral Grant, and Gineral Lee have it hot and heavy with 'em every day.
    • 1925, E. J. Dailey, Traplines and Trails: A Book of Master Trapping Methods‎[2], fifth edition, Columbus, Ohio: Hunter-Trader-Trapper Company, page 89:
      I have known a few old skunkers to bleed skunks and other fur-bearers with their knives. This leaves the skin a purer white than any other way of killing.
    • 1928 July, “Sour Honey Dept.”, in Geo. S. Demuth, E. R. Root, editor, Gleanings in Bee Culture‎[3], volume 56, number 7, Medina, Ohio: The A. I. Root Company, pages 471–472:
      Mel is a trapper too and honest and a skunker. I get his fur catch next winter for his interest in my queen breedin business and he breeds from my queen as we have now named Eureka Suprema.
    • 1965, Ruel McDaniel, One More Sunrise‎[4], Port Lavaca, Texas: Historial Publishing Company, page 37:
      Steve poured it on. He told about how he used to trap skunks to make spending money and how he and the other boys who also were skunkers kept running off women teachers because they couldn't tolerate the peculiar perfumery they collected in their clothing during their appointed rounds to their traps.
    • 1999, Donald B. Sparrow, Growing up on Cape Cod: Four Brothers Learning to Stand Tall‎[5], Eastham, Massachusetts: Great Oaks Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 141:
      We trapped the skunks or simply collected them as they foraged at night. The most successful and persistent of our youthful skunkers was our next-door neighbor, Charlie Escobar, who preferred to track them down on foot.

Derived terms

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