smack

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See also:SmackandSMACK

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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The noun is fromMiddle Englishsmac,smak,smacke,fromOld Englishsmæc,smæċċ(“taste, smatch”),fromProto-West Germanic*smakku,fromProto-Germanic*smakkuz(“a taste”),fromProto-Indo-European*smegʰ-,*smeg-(“to taste”). The verb is fromMiddle Englishsmaken. Cognate with English dialectalsmatch,Scotssmak(“scent, smell, taste, flavour”),Saterland FrisianSmoak(“taste”),West Frisiansmaak(“taste”),Dutchsmaak(“taste”),GermanSchmack,Geschmack(“taste”),Danishsmag(“taste”),SwedishandNorwegiansmak(“taste”),Norwegiansmekke.Akin toOld Englishsmæċċan(“to taste, smack”).More atsmatch.

Noun

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smack(countableanduncountable,pluralsmacks)

  1. A distinctflavor,especially if slight.
    rice pudding with asmackof cinnamon
  2. A slight trace of something; asmattering.
    • 1881–1882,Robert Louis Stevenson,Treasure Island,London; Paris:Cassell & Company,published 14 November 1883,→OCLC:
      He was not sailorly, and yet he had asmackof the sea about him too.
    • 1906,Oliver Elton,Frederick York Powell: A Life and a Selection from His Letters and Occasional Writings,page249:
      I like my cousins in Holland immensely, but I feel more sib to the Northerners. Your description of Lofoten is fine. I can see them. They must be enchanting in their way, cod's head and tails or no. There is a fine eau de Javellesmackabout a Dutch canal, by the way, that takes[…]
  4. (slang,uncountable)Heroin.
    Synonyms:seeThesaurus:heroin
  5. (Northern England)A form of fried potato; ascallop.
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Translations
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Verb

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smack(third-person singular simple presentsmacks,present participlesmacking,simple past and past participlesmacked)

  1. (transitive)To get theflavorof.
  2. (intransitive)To have a particulartaste;used withof.
    • 1820-25,Charles Lamb,Essays of Elia
      He had his tea and hot rolls in a morning, while we were battening upon our quarter-of-a-penny loaf — ourcrug— moistened with attenuated small beer, in wooden piggings,smackingof the pitched leathern jack it was poured from.
  3. (intransitive)To indicate or suggest something; used withof.
    Her reckless behaviorsmacksof pride.

Etymology 2

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Smacks in a painting by Carlton Theodore Chapman, ca 1890 (Brooklyn Museum of Art).

FromMiddle Low Germansmack(Low GermanSchmacke, Schmaake(“small ship”)) orDutchsmak,perhaps ultimately related tosmakken,imitativeof the sails' noise.

Noun

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smack(pluralsmacks)

  2. A smallsailingvessel,commonly rigged as asloop,used chiefly in the coasting andfishingtrade and often called afishing smack
    • 2009,Simon Schama,The American Future: A History:
      But without Union reinforcement, as many men as could be packed into a mere fishingsmackcould take the fort, Meigs wrote to Washington.
  3. A group ofjellyfish.
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Translations
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References

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Etymology 3

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FromMiddle English*smakken,fromMiddle Dutchsmacken(modernDutchsmakken(“to smack, pop, hurl down, crash”)), fromOld Dutch*smakkon,fromProto-West Germanic*smak(k)ōn.CognateWest Frisiansmakke,Middle Low Germansmacken(“to hit, hurl, fling”),Plautdietschschmaksen(“to smack the lips”),Germanschmatzen(“eat noisily”),regionalGermanschmacken,Schmackes(“vigour”)(compareSwedishsmak(“slap”),the first part ofSaterland Frisiansmakmuulje(“to smack, slap”)).

Noun

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smack(pluralsmacks)

  1. A sharpblow;aslap.See also:spank.
  2. The sound of a loudkiss.
    • c.1590–1592(date written),William Shakespeare,“The Taming of the Shrew”,inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies[…](First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard,andEd[ward]Blount,published1623,→OCLC,[Act III, scene ii]:
      he took the bride about the neck. And kissed her lips with such a clamoroussmack.
    • 1886,Peter Christen Asbjørnsen,translated by H.L. Brækstad,Folk and Fairy Tales,page178:
      Then he told them of the princess, how she came to him, and how much she had to kiss him to get the whistle, when nobody saw or heard it over in the wood - "I must get on with these lies if the vat is to be full," said Ashiepattle, - so he told them about the queen, how stingy she was with the money and how liberal she was with kisses, that one could hear thesmacksall over the wood.
  3. A quick, sharp noise, as of the lips when suddenly separated, or of a whip.
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Verb

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smack(third-person singular simple presentsmacks,present participlesmacking,simple past and past participlesmacked)

  1. Toslapor hit someone.
  2. To make asmackingsound.
    • 1832,Benjamin Disraeli,Contarini Fleming:
      A horse neighed, and a whipsmacked,there was a whistle, and the sound of a cart wheel.
  3. (especially outside of North America) To strike a child (usually on the buttocks) as a form of discipline. (normal U.S. and Canadian termspank)
  4. Towetlyseparate thelips,making anoise,after tasting something or inexpectationof a treat.
    • 1763,Robert Lloyd, “A Familiar Epistle”, inSt. James Magazine:
      But when, obedient to the mode / Of panegyric, courtly ode / The bard bestrides, his annual hack, / In vain I taste, and sip andsmack,/ I find no flavour of the Sack.
  5. Tokisswith a close compression of the lips, so as to make a sound when they separate.
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Adverb

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smack(notcomparable)

  1. As if with a smack or slap; smartly; sharply.
    Rightsmackin the middle.
    • 1987December 13, Elizaeth Pincus, “Gritty Love”, inGay Community News,volume15,number22,page 9:
      After one early moment in their courtship, Franny expresses, "That night I could feel my beauty standing up inside me for the first time in my life." These heightened scenes of discovery are offeredsmackamidst moods of vicious aggression and unresolvable separation, keepingUnusual Companyrich with subtle twists.
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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Swedish

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Noun

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smackn

  1. (in the phrase "inte ett smack")smidgeon, piece, small bit

See also

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References

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Anagrams

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Yola

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Etymology

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FromMiddle English*smakken,fromMiddle Dutchsmacken,fromOld Dutch*smakkon.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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smack

  1. tosmack
    • 1867,“THE WEDDEEN O BALLYMORE”, inSONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY,number 5, page96:
      To his sweethearth, ansmacklick a dab of a brough.
      To his sweetheart, andsmackedlike a slap of a shoe.

Derived terms

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References

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  • Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland,London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page96
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