skunkworks
nounEtymology From skunk + works, since c. 1943. Skunk Works was the nickname of Lockheed Advanced Development Projects, eventually gaining official recognition. The name is derived from a mysterious, foul-smelling “skonk oil”-brewing facility called the Skonk Works in the comic strip L'il Abner by Al Capp.
1
A loosely organized research and development team or facility.
- Not all ideas coming out of the Phillips skunkworks have been success stories, of course. A polyethelene saddle never even made it through the patent process.1998 January 19, Teresa Riordan, “When it comes to number of patents, the petroleum industry is a veritable gusher”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- Downing Street is seeking applications for a £135,000-a-year data expert to set up a “skunkworks” in No 10, in the latest evidence of Dominic Cummings’ Whitehall shake-up.2020 July 10, Heather Stewart, “Downing Street seeks data expert to set up ‘skunkworks’ in No 10”, in The Guardian: