skunked
adj1
Slang Intoxicated by alcohol or recreational drugs.
2
Slang Having caught no fish at all when on a fishing trip.
3
Slang Having seen no birds at all when on a birding trip.
- It no longer mattered that I had been skunked in the marsh. I had prevailed on the ponds.2003, Kenn Kaufman, City Birding: True Tales of Birds and Birdwatching in Unexpected Places, page 47:
4
Of beer Ruined by poor storage or exposure to light.
- We found some skunked beer in the abandoned cabin, but it was not worth drinking.
5
Of a word or phrase Transitioning to a new meaning or usage and potentially controversial.
- A word is most hotly disputed in the middle part of this process: any use of it is likely to distract some readers. The new use seems illiterate to Group 1; the old use seems odd to Group 2. The word has become “skunked.”2000, Bryan A. Garner, “skunked terms”, in The Oxford Dictionary of American Usage and Style, page 306:
- Derived terms
- skunked term, unskunked