What is "funk"

Funk \Funk\ (f[u^][ng]k), n. [OE. funke a little fire; akin to Prov. E. funk touchwood, G. funke spark, and perh. to Goth. f[=o]n fire.]

1. An offensive smell; a stench. [Low]

2. One who funks; a shirk; a coward. [Colloq.]

3. a state of fear.

4. a mildly depressed state of mind; -- often used in the phrase blue funk.

Funk \Funk\ (f[u^][ng]k), n. an earthy, seemingly unsophisticated style of jazz music having elements of black American blues and gospel.

Funk \Funk\, v. t.

1. To envelop with an offensive smell or smoke. [Obs.]
   --King.

2. To funk at; to flinch at; to shrink from (a thing or person); as, to funk a task. [Colloq.]

3. To frighten; to cause to flinch. [Colloq.]

Funk \Funk\, v. i.

1. To emit an offensive smell; to stink.

2. To be frightened, and shrink back; to flinch; as, to funk at the edge of a precipice. [Colloq.]
   --C. Kingsley.

   To funk out, to back out in a cowardly fashion. [Colloq.]

   To funk right out o' political strife.
   --Lowell (Biglow Papers).

Funk \Funk\, Funking \Funk"ing\, n. A shrinking back through fear. [Colloq.] ``The horrid panic, or funk (as the men of Eton call it).''
--De Quincey.

"depression, ill-humor," perhaps from earlier sense "cowering state of fear" (1743), identified in OED as originally Oxford slang, probably from Scottish and Northern English verb funk "become afraid, shrink through fear, fail through panic," (1737), of unknown origin. Perhaps from Flemish fonck "perturbation, agitation, distress," which is possibly related to Old French funicle "wild, mad."

"bad smell," 1620s, probably from the verb funk in the sense "blow smoke upon; stifle with offensive vapor" (though this is not recorded until later 17c.). It is from dialectal French funkière "to smoke," from Old French fungier "give off smoke; fill with smoke," from Latin fumigare "to smoke" (see fume (n.)).\n

\nNot considered to be related to obsolete funk (n.) "a spark," mid-14c., fonke, a general Germanic word (compare Dutch vonk, Old High German funcho, German Funke. The Middle English word is probably from Low German or from an unrecorded Old English form. \n

\nIn reference to a style of music felt to have a strong, earthy quality, it is attested by 1959, a back-formation from funky (q.v.).

Etymology 1 n. 1 (context obsolete English) spark 2 (context obsolete English) touchwood, punk, tinder Etymology 2

n. 1 (context countable English) mental depression 2 (context uncountable English) A state of fear or panic, especially cowardly 3 (context countable English) One who fears or panics; a coward. vb. 1 (cx ambitransitive English) To shrink from, or avoid something because of fear. 2 (cx transitive English) To frighten; to cause to flinch. Etymology 3

n. 1 (context countable English) Foul or unpleasant smell, especially body odour. 2 (rft-sense) (context uncountable English) Music that combines traditional forms of black music (as blues, gospel, or soul) and is characterized by a strong backbeat. vb. 1 (context intransitive English) To emit an offensive smell; to stink. 2 (context transitive English) To envelop with an offensive smell or smoke.

1. n. a state of nervous depression; "he was in a funk" [syn: blue funk]

2. United States biochemist (born in Poland) who showed that several diseases were caused by dietary deficiencies and who coined the term `vitamin' for the chemicals involved (1884-1967) [syn: Casimir Funk]

3. v. draw back, as with fear or pain; "she flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf" [syn: flinch, squinch, cringe, shrink, wince, recoil, quail]

Funk is an album released in 2002 by Korean pop rock band Bulldog Mansion. It is most notable for featuring the song "Happy Birthday to Me," which was used in the SamBakZa Flash cartoon " There she is!! Step 2 -- Cake Dance".

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid- to late 1960s when African American musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of soul music, jazz, and rhythm and blues (R&B). Funk de-emphasizes melody and chord progressions used in other related genres and brings a strong rhythmic groove of a bass line played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a drummer to the foreground. Funk songs are often based on an extended vamp on a single chord, distinguishing them from R&B and soul songs, which are built on complex chord progressions. Funk uses the same richly-colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, or dominant seventh chords with altered ninths.

Like much African-inspired music, funk typically consists of a complex groove with rhythm instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, Hammond organ, and drums playing interlocking rhythms. Funk bands sometimes have a horn section of several saxophones, trumpets, and in some cases, a trombone, which plays rhythmic "hits" and "punches". Funk originated in the mid-1960s, with James Brown's development of a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat—with heavy emphasis on the first beat of every measure, funky bass lines, drum patterns, and syncopated guitar riffs. Other musical groups, including Sly & the Family Stone and Parliament-Funkadelic, soon began to adopt and develop Brown's innovations. While much of the written history of funk focuses on men, there have been notable funk women, including Chaka Khan, Labelle, Brides of Funkenstein, Klymaxx, Mother's Finest, and Betty Davis.

Many of the most famous bands in the genre also played disco and soul extensively. Funk derivatives include funk rock (e.g., Red Hot Chili Peppers); boogie (or electro-funk), a form of electronic music; electro music, a hybrid of electronic music and funk; funk metal (e.g., Living Colour); G-funk, a mix of gangsta rap and funk; Timba, a form of funky Cuban popular dance music; and funk jam (e.g., Phish). Funk samples have been used extensively in genres including hip hop, house music, and drum and bass. It is also the main influence of go-go, a subgenre associated with funk.

Funk commonly refers to a musical style

Funk or Funky may also refer to:

Music:

• Funk carioca, known as funk in Brazil, musical genre
• Luis "Funky" Marrero, a Hip-hop, and rap Christian contemporary music singer
• Funk (album), 2002, by Bulldog Mansion
• " F.U.N.K.", a 2007 song by Prince
• Funky (The Spencer Davis Group album)
• Funky (Gene Ammons album), a 1957 album by saxophonist Gene Ammons

Places:

• Funk Glacier, Graham Land, Antarctica
• Funk Island, Newfoundland, Canada
• Funk, Nebraska, United States, a village
• Funk, Ohio, United States, an unincorporated community

Other uses:

• A temporary depressive episode
• Funk art, a figurative art movement from the 1950s and 1960s
• Funk B, a 1930s aircraft made by the Funk Aircraft Company
• Funk F-23, a 1960s agricultural aircraft
• "Funk" (Glee), a TV series episode
• Funk (surname), a family name (including a list of people)
• Funk & Wagnalls, a New York City publisher
• Funky Winkerbean, comic strip
• FUNK, Front Uni National du Kampuchéa or National United Front of Kampuchea, a coalition of Sihanoukists and the Khmer Rouge
• Funk House (disambiguation), various houses on US.. National Register of Historic Places

Funk is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

• Aaron Funk, Canadian electronic musician
• Allan Funk, American professional wrestler
• Annie Clemmer Funk (1874–1912), Mennonite missionary in India, perished with the Titanic
• Casimir Funk (1884–1967), Polish biochemist
• Dory Funk (1919–1973), American professional wrestler and father of Terry Funk and Dory Funk, Jr.
• Dory Funk, Jr. (b. 1942), American professional wrestler and wrestling trainer
• Eric Funk (b. 1949), American contemporary classical composer
• Franz Xaver von Funk (1840–1907), German church historian
• Fred Funk (b. 1956), American professional golfer
• Heinrich Funk (1807-1877), German landscape painter
• Isaac Funk (1797-1865), American politician, pioneer and rancher
• Isaac Kaufmann Funk (1839–1912), American editor, lexicographer, publisher and spelling reformer
• Joseph Funk (1778–1862), American music teacher and publisher
• Michael Funk, Canadian ice hockey player
• Nolan Gerard Funk (b. 1986), American actor
• Paul Funk (1886–1969), Austrian mathematician
• Robert W. Funk (1926-2005), American religious scholar
• Terry Funk (b. 1944), American professional wrestler, also known as "The Funker"
• Tom Funk, American Major League baseball player
• Vicki Funk (b. 1947), American botanist
• Walther Funk (1890–1960), Nazi official and war criminal
• Wilfred John Funk (1883–1965), American author and publisher, son of Isaac Kaufmann Funk
• Wilhelm Heinrich Funk (1866–1949), German-American portrait painter

"Funk" is the twenty-first episode of the American television series Glee. The episode was written by series creator Ian Brennan and directed by Elodie Keene. It premiered on the Fox network on June 1, 2010 and was watched by 9 million viewers. In "Funk", New Directions is intimidated by rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline. Jesse St. James ( Jonathan Groff) defects back to Vocal Adrenaline, and New Directions explores funk music, knowing it is their rival club's weakness. The episode features cover versions of six songs, all of which were released as singles, available for download, and two of which are included on the soundtrack album Glee: The Music, Volume 3 Showstoppers.

The episode received mixed reviews from critics. Lisa Respers France of CNN and Blair Baldwin of Zap2it both received the episode positively. Todd VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club, Entertainment Weekly Tim Stack and James Poniewozic of Time highlighted continuity issues with the show, while VanDerWerff and Henrik Batallones of BuddyTV deemed "Funk" a set-up episode for the season finale. Bobby Hankinson of the Houston Chronicle gave a more positive review, but still found "Funk" lacking compared to previous episodes, a sentiment shared by Aly Semigran of MTV.