smack
pronunciation
How to pronounce smack in British English:
UK [smæk]
How to pronounce smack in American English:
US [smæk]
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- Noun:
- a blow from a flat object (as an open hand)
- the taste experience when a savoury condiment is taken into the mouth
- a sailing ship (usually rigged like a sloop or cutter) used in fishing and sailing along the coast
- street names for heroin
- an enthusiastic kiss
- the act of smacking something; a blow delivered with an open hand
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- Verb:
- deliver a hard blow to
- have an element suggestive (of something)
- have a distinctive or characteristic taste
- kiss lightly
- eat noisily by smacking one's lips
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- Adverb:
- directly
Word Origin
- smack
- smack: English has four separate words smack. The oldest, ‘taste’ [OE], is now mainly used metaphorically (as in smack of ‘suggest’). It has relatives in German geschmack, Dutch smaak, Swedish smak, and Danish smag ‘taste’, and may be distantly linked to Lithuanian smagus ‘pleasing’. Smack ‘hit’ [16] at first meant ‘open the lips noisily’, and was borrowed from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch smacken, which no doubt originated in imitation of the noise made.It was not used for ‘hit with the palm of the hand’ until the mid 19th century. The slang use of the derivative smacker for ‘money’ originated in the USA around the end of World War I. Smack ‘small sailing boat’ [17] was borrowed from Dutch smak, a word of unknown origin. And smack ‘heroin’ [20] is probably an alteration of schmeck ‘heroin or other drug’ [20], which in turn comes from Yiddish schmeck ‘sniff’.
- smack (n.1)
- "a taste, flavor, savor" especially a slight flavor that suggests something, from Old English smæc "taste; scent, odor," from Proto-Germanic *smak- (cognates: Old Frisian smek, Middle Dutch smæck, Dutch smaak, Old High German smac, German Geschmack, Swedish smak, Danish smag), from a Germanic and Baltic root *smeg- meaning "to taste" (cognates: Lithuanian smaguriai "dainties," smagus "pleasing"). Meaning "a trace (of something)" is attested from 1530s.
- smack (n.4)
- "heroin," 1942, American English slang, probably an alteration of schmeck "a drug," especially heroin (1932), from Yiddish schmeck "a sniff."
- smack (v.1)
- "make a sharp noise with the lips," 1550s, probably of imitative origin (see smack (v.2)). With adverbial force, "suddenly, directly," from 1782; extended form smack-dab is attested from 1892, American English colloquial (slap-dab is from 1886).
- smack (n.3)
- single-masted sailboat, 1610s, probably from Dutch or Low German smak "sailboat," perhaps from smakken "to fling, dash" (see smack (v.2)), perhaps so-called from the sound made by its sails. French semaque, Spanish zumaca, Italian semacca probably are Germanic borrowings.
- smack (v.2)
- "to slap a flat surface with the hand," 1835, from smack (n.) in this sense; perhaps influenced by Low German smacken "to strike, throw," which is likely of imitative origin (compare Swedish smak "slap," Middle Low German smacken, Frisian smakke, Dutch smakken "to fling down," Lithuanian smagiu "to strike, knock down, whip").
- smack (v.3)
- mid-13c., "to smell (something"); mid-14c., "to taste (something), perceive by taste" (transitive); late 14c. "to have a taste, taste of" (intransitive), from smack (n.1). Compare Old English smæccan "to taste," Old Frisian smakia Middle Dutch smaecken, Old High German smakken "have a savor, scent, or taste," German schmecken "taste, try, smell, perceive." Sometimes also smatch. Now mainly in verbal figurative use smacks of ... (first attested 1590s). "Commonly but erroneously regarded as identical with [smack (n.2)], as if 'taste' proceeds from 'smacking the lips.'" [Century Dictionary]
- smack (n.2)
- "smart, sharp sound made by the lips," 1560s, from smack (v.1). Meaning "a loud kiss" is recorded from c. 1600. Meaning "sharp sound made by hitting something with the flat of the hand" is from c. 1746.
Example
- 1. Ms merkel 's summary statement did indeed smack of reorganising the fire brigade while the blaze is still out of control .
- 2. Some pronouncements by chinese commentators smack of premature triumphalism regarding both china 's domestic transformation and its global role .
- 3. I did not want to smack my son .
- 4. Some banks , particularly big , international ones , shy away , fearing that profiting from the poor could smack of exploitation .
- 5. But perhaps you 're not convinced by these clever lab experiments performed mostly on undergrads . Perhaps you think the paradigms smack of artifice .