skunk works Hear it!

skunk works definition

skunk works

  1. a group of engineers, scientists, etc. engaged in research and development, usually secretly or in isolation
  2. the division within a company or the facilities of such a group

Etymology: after the Skonk Works, a moonshine still in Li'l Abner, Am comic strip by Al Capp (pseud. of Alfred Gerald Caplin, 1909-79)

Also skunkworks skunk′·works′

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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