funk

slang To pretend to be cooler or more knowledgeable than one actually is. You can't fake the funk, man—you're either cool or you're not. There's nothing lamer than some middle-aged man trying to fake the funk. Nobody cares if you were cool once upon a time! Have you ever talked to Tim about music? Dude fakes the funk—he clearly knows nothing about the cool bands we like.

dated To fail, shrink from, or refuse to do something due to fear; to chicken out. The soldier was court-martialed for funking out ahead of the attack. I wasn't surprised Billy had funked out. He always was a great big wuss. He says he'll do the prank with us, but he's a wimp—he'll funk out when the time comes.

slang Intoxicated with drugs or alcohol. Do you remember last night at the bar at all? You were really funked out! Well, I must have been funked out if I got up and did karaoke at the bar last night! Help him get home, will ya? He started drinking whiskey, and now he's funked out.

slang A euphemistic spelling of "fucking" when used as an intensifier. I'm funking serious, dude—get outta my face or I'm going to tell the teacher on you! A: "That is absolutely funking ridiculous!" B: "You can swear in the chat, you know. You're not going to get in trouble." A: "Aren't you mad at Angela for starting these rumors?" B: "I am! But the kids are here, so all I can say is that Angela's a funking liar!

slang Feeling sad or unhappy for a lengthy period of time. Ever since I got rejected from my first-choice college, I've been in a funk. I'm taking Don out tonight because he's been in a funk since his wife left him. A: "Does Jill seem down to you?" B: "Yeah, I think she's still in a funk over not getting the promotion."

Sl. intoxicated. Do you think you can go through life funked out all the time? Are you funked out again?

sad; depressed. I've been in a blue funk all week. Don't get in a funk about your job. Things'll get better.

In a sad or dejected mood. One writer suggests that the term may come from the Walloon in de fonk zum, which means “to be in the smoke,” but this etymology has not been verified. Eric Partridge believed funk came from the Flemish fonck, for “perturbation” or “disturbance,” and indeed, to be in a funk at first meant to be very nervous or terrified (early eighteenth century). Somehow it got changed, perhaps owing to the addition of blue, with its colloquial meaning of “sad.” A more recent variant is a deep funk, said, for example, of a deep decline in the stock market: “The market’s fallen into a deep funk.”