musk

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A greasy secretion with a powerful odour, produced in a glandular sac of the male musk deer and used in the manufacture of perfumes.

   “Your onely way to make a good pomander, is this. Take an ownce of the pureſt garden mould, clenſed and ſteeped ſeauen daies in change of motherleſſe roſe water, then take the beſt Labdanum, Benioine, both Storaxes, amber greece, and Ciuet, and muſke, incorporate them together, and work them into what form you pleaſe; this, if your breath bee not to valiant, will make you ſmell as ſweete as my Ladies dogge.”

   “An old medical record relates that by means of musk the genital power of a man in his eightieth year was resuscitated.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A similar secretion produced by the otter and the civet.
3. (countable, uncountable)A synthetic organic compound used as a substitute for the above.
4. (countable, uncountable)The odour of musk.
5. (countable, uncountable)A musk deer (genus Moschus).
6. (countable, uncountable)A muskflower (Erythranthe moschata).
7. (countable, uncountable)A plant of the genus Erodium (Erodium moschatum); the musky heronsbill.
8. (countable, uncountable)A plant of the genus Muscari; grape hyacinth.
9. (colloquial, countable, slang, uncountable, vulgar)The scent of human genitalia when aroused or unwashed.

   “I was so excited I could smell my own musk.”

10. (abbreviation, alt-of)Abbreviation of muscle-specific kinase.

verb

1. (transitive)To perfume with musk.

name

1. A surname.
2. A surname.

   “Since the announcement, Musk reposted claims on his social media platform X that $20,000 of American tax dollars are spent on drag shows in Ecuador, $750,000 to operate the fire alarm at the New York Metropolitan Opera House, and $350,000 to develop AI smart toilets.”

3. A locality in the Shire of Hepburn, central western Victoria, Australia.