From Websters 1828 Dictionary (link)

Skunk SKUNK, n. In America, the popular name of a fetid animal of the weasel kind; the Viverra Mephitis of Linne.
SKUNK'-CABBAGE,
SKUNK'-WEED, n. A plant vulgarly so called, the Tetodes fatidus, so named from its smell.

From WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) (link)

  skunk
      n 1: a person who is deemed to be despicable or contemptible;
           "only a rotter would do that"; "kill the rat"; "throw the
           bum out"; "you cowardly little pukes!"; "the British call a
           contemptible person a `git'" [syn: rotter, dirty dog,
           rat, skunk, stinker, stinkpot, bum, puke,
           crumb, lowlife, scum bag, so-and-so, git]
      2: a defeat in a game where one side fails to score [syn:
         shutout, skunk]
      3: street names for marijuana [syn: pot, grass, green
         goddess}, dope, weed, gage, sess, sens, smoke,
         skunk, locoweed, Mary Jane]
      4: American musteline mammal typically ejecting an intensely
         malodorous fluid when startled; in some classifications put
         in a separate subfamily Mephitinae [syn: skunk, polecat,
         wood pussy]
      v 1: defeat by a lurch [syn: lurch, skunk]

From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003) (link)

  Skunk geographical name
    river 264 miles (425 kilometers) SE Iowa flowing SE into
    Mississippi River
  
  

From Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition (2003) (link)

  skunk I. noun (plural skunks; also
  skunk)
   Etymology: earlier squuncke, from a Massachusett reflex of
   Algonquian *šeka•kwa, from šek- urinate + -a•kw
   fox, fox-like animal Date: 1634 1.
    a.  any of various common omnivorous black-and-white New World
    mammals (especially genus Mephitis) of the weasel family that have
    a pair of perineal glands from which a secretion of pungent and offensive
    odor is ejected b.  the fur of a skunk
   2.  an obnoxious or disliked person II. transitive verb
   Date: 1843 1.
    a.  defeat b.  to prevent entirely from scoring or succeeding
    ; shut out
   2.  to fail to pay; also  cheat
  
  

From Oxford English Reference Dictionary (link)

skunk
n. & v.
--n.
1 a any of various cat-sized flesh-eating mammals of the family Mustelidae, esp. Mephitis mephitis having a distinctive black and white striped fur and able to emit a powerful stench from a liquid secreted by its anal glands as a defence. b its fur.
2 colloq. a thoroughly contemptible person.
--v.tr.
1 US sl. defeat.
2 fail to pay (a bill etc.).
Phrases and idioms:
skunk-bear US a wolverine. skunk-cabbage US a herbaceous plant, Lysichiton americanum, with an offensive-smelling spathe.
Etymology: Amer. Ind. segankw, segongw

From Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary (link)

  skunk
  (skunks)
    A skunk is a small black and white animal which releases an unpleasant smelling liquid
    if it is frightened or attacked. Skunks live in America.
   N-COUNT
  
  
  

From English Explanatory Dictionary (link)

  skunk
  skʌŋk n. & v. --n. 1 a any of various cat-sized flesh-eating
  mammals of the family Mustelidae, esp. Mephitis mephitis having a distinctive
  black and white striped fur and able to emit a powerful stench from a
  liquid secreted by its anal glands as a defence. b its fur. 2 colloq. a
  thoroughly contemptible person. --v.tr. 1 US sl. defeat. 2 fail to pay (a
  bill etc.). øskunk-bear US a wolverine. skunk-cabbage US a herbaceous plant,
  Lysichiton americanum, with an offensive-smelling spathe. [Amer. Ind. segankw,
  segongw]
  
  
  

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (link)

  Skunk \Skunk\, v. t.
     In games of chance and skill: To defeat (an opponent) (as in
     cards) so that he fails to gain a point, or (in checkers) to
     get a king. [Colloq. U. S.]

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (link)

  Skunk \Skunk\, n. [Contr. from the Abenaki (American Indian)
     seganku.] (Zo["o]l.)
     Any one of several species of American musteline carnivores
     of the genus Mephitis and allied genera. They have two
     glands near the anus, secreting an extremely fetid liquid,
     which the animal ejects at pleasure as a means of defense.
  
     Note: The common species of the Eastern United States
           ({Mephitis mephitica}) is black with more or less white
           on the body and tail. The spotted skunk ({Spilogale
           putorius}), native of the Southwestern United States
           and Mexico, is smaller than the common skunk, and is
           variously marked with black and white.
  
     Skunk bird, Skunk blackbird (Zo["o]l.), the bobolink; --
        so called because the male, in the breeding season, is
        black and white, like a skunk.
  
     Skunk cabbage (Bot.), an American aroid herb ({Symplocarpus
        f[oe]tidus}>) having a reddish hornlike spathe in earliest
        spring, followed by a cluster of large cabbagelike leaves.
        It exhales a disagreeable odor. Also called swamp
        cabbage}.
  
     Skunk porpoise. (Zo["o]l.) See under Porpoise.

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 (link)

  84 Moby Thesaurus words for "skunk":
     Cape polecat, animal, ape, bar, bear, beast, beat, blank, bulldoze,
     cavy, chimp, chimpanzee, clobber, coon, cream, cur, defeat utterly,
     dog, drub, ferret, foumart, glutton, groundhog, guinea pig,
     hedgehog, hound, hyena, insect, lambaste, larrup, lick, mongrel,
     monk, monkey, mousehound, opossum, overbear, overwhelm, paste, pig,
     polecat, porcupine, possum, prairie dog, prick, quill pig, raccoon,
     reptile, rotten egg, schmear, scum, serpent, shellac, shit,
     shithead, shut out, smear, snake, snow under, steamroller,
     stink ball, stink bomb, stinkard, stinker, stinkpot, swine, thrash,
     toad, turd, varmint, vermin, viper, warning sign, weasel, whelm,
     whelp, whistle-pig, whitewash, whomp, whop, wolverine, woodchuck,
     worm, zoril