SPANK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does spank mean? 

• SPANK (noun)
  The noun SPANK has 1 sense:

1. a slap with the flat of the hand

  Familiarity information: SPANK used as a noun is very rare.

• SPANK (verb)
  The verb SPANK has 1 sense:

1. give a spanking to; subject to a spanking

  Familiarity information: SPANK used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SPANK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A slap with the flat of the hand

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("spank" is a kind of...):

slap; smack; smacking (the act of smacking something; a blow delivered with an open hand)

Derivation:

spank (give a spanking to; subject to a spanking)

• SPANK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they spank    ... he / she / it spanks   
Past simple: spanked   
Past participle: spanked   
-ing form: spanking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give a spanking to; subject to a spanking

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

larrup; paddle; spank

Hypernyms (to "spank" is one way to...):

beat; beat up; work over (give a beating to; subject to a beating, either as a punishment or as an act of aggression)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

spank (a slap with the flat of the hand)

spanker (a hitter who slaps (usually another person) with an open hand)

spanking (the act of slapping on the buttocks)

 Context examples 

"How will a spanking do?" Martin asked.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Spank! went the right, with the clear, crisp sound of two billiard balls clapping together, and Berks reeled, flung up his arms, spun round, and fell in a huge, fleshy heap upon the floor.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Come, Demi, and Meg led her son away, feeling a strong desire to spank the little marplot who hopped beside her, laboring under the delusion that the bribe was to be administered as soon as they reached the nursery.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The one on my right was a colossal affair by any standard—it was a factual imitation of some Hôtel de Ville in Normandy, with a tower on one side, spanking new under a thin beard of raw ivy, and a marble swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden.

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)