punk

n

1.

a bumptious but insignificant or contemptible person. This sense of the word has been well-established in American English since the 19th century referring typically to a youth, particularly a presumptuous or irritating one, or to a petty criminal or gangster. The word originated in British slang around the end of the 17th century when it was used to denote a whore and later was a precursor of the modern rent boy. In the 20th century the term punk fell out of use in Britain, being reintroduced via the American media and later by way of the punk rock phenomenon of 1976 and 1977.

► 'The play-house Puncks, who in a loose undress

Each night receive some Cullie's soft ad-dress... ' (Poor Pensive Punck, poem by John Dryden, 1691)

2.

an adherent of a youth subculture first coalescing in 1976 around punk rock music. Punk rock was so called because of the callow, defiant poses and amateur-ish musicianship of its proponents. Led by American groups such as the Ram-ones and the British band the Sex Pistols, punk rock became the musical vogue of 1977, accompanied by a self-con-sciously nihilistic and pessimist attitude and imagery, spikey and mohican hair-styles, safety pins and chains, etc.

3.

British

skunk marihuana

punk (someone)

vb

American

to humiliate, belittle. 'Punked!' has been used as an exclamation of mali-cious triumph since around 2000, and as the title of a TV show in which vic-tims are duped.