smack
see also: Smack
Pronunciation Etymology 1

The noun is from Middle English smac, smak, smacke, from Old English smæc, smæċċ, from Proto-West Germanic *smakku, from Proto-Germanic *smakkuz, from Proto-Indo-European *smegʰ-, *smeg-.

The verb is from Middle English smaken.

Cognate with English dialectal smatch, Scots smak, Saterland Frisian Smoak, Western Frisian smaak, Dutch smaak, German Schmack, Geschmack ("taste"), Danish smag, Swedish - and Norwegian smak, Norwegian smekke . Akin to Old English smæċċan. More at smatch.

Noun

smack

  1. A distinct flavor, especially if slight.
    rice pudding with a smack of cinnamon
    • 1873 January 22, Robert Browning, “Part IV”, in Red Cotton Night-Cap Country: Or Turf and Towers, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC ↗, page 245 ↗:
      I did not call him fool, and vex my friend, / But quietly allowed experiment, / Encouraged him to dust his drink, and now / Grate lignum vitæ now bruise so-called grains / Of Paradise, and now, for perfume, pour / Distilment rare, the rose of Jericho, / Holy-thorn, passion-flower, and what know I? / Till beverage obtained the fancied smack.
    • 1896, A[lfred] E[dward] Housman, “(please specify the poem number)”, in A Shropshire Lad, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, The Bodley Head, published 1906, →OCLC ↗:
      But take it: if the smack is sour / The better for the embittered hour; […]
  2. A slight trace of something; a smattering.
    • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC ↗:
      He was not sailorly, and yet he had a smack of the sea about him too.
  3. (slang, uncountable) Heroin.
    Synonyms: Thesaurus:heroin
  4. (Northern England) A form of fried potato; a scallop.
Translations Translations Verb

smack (smacks, present participle smacking; simple past and past participle smacked)

  1. (transitive) To get the flavor of.
    • 1827, Thomas Carlyle (translator), Johann Karl August Musäus, "Melechsala" (1782-86); in German Romance I. 175
      He soon smacked the taste of physic hidden in this sweetness.
  2. (intransitive) To have a particular taste; used with of.
    • 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 — our crug — moistened with attenuated small beer, in wooden piggings, smacking of the pitched leathern jack it was poured from.
  3. (intransitive) To indicate or suggest something; used with of.
    Her reckless behavior smacks of pride.
    • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act II, scene ii]:
      All sects, all ages, smack of this vice.
Etymology 2

From Middle Low German smack (Low German Schmacke) or Dutch smak, perhaps ultimately related to smakken, imitative of the sails' noise.

Noun

smack (plural smacks)

  1. A small sailing vessel, commonly rigged as a sloop, used chiefly in the coasting and fishing trade and often called a fishing smack
    • 2009, Simon Schama, The American Future: A History:
      But without Union reinforcement, as many men as could be packed into a mere fishing smack could take the fort, Meigs wrote to Washington.
  2. A group of jellyfish.
Translations
  • German: Schmack
  • Italian: semalo
  • Spanish: sumaca
Etymology 3

From Middle English *smakken, from Middle Dutch smacken (modern Dutch smakken), from odt *smakkon, from Proto-West Germanic *smak(k)ōn.

Noun

smack (plural smacks)

  1. A sharp blow; a slap. See also: spank.
  2. The sound of a loud kiss.
    • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene ii]:
      he took the bride about the neck. And kissed her lips with such a clamorous smack.
  3. A quick, sharp noise, as of the lips when suddenly separated, or of a whip.
Translations Verb

smack (smacks, present participle smacking; simple past and past participle smacked)

  1. To slap or hit someone.
  2. To make a smacking sound.
    • 1832, Benjamin Disraeli, Contarini Fleming:
      A horse neighed, and a whip smacked, 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 term spank)
  4. To wetly separate the lips, making a noise, after tasting something or in expectation of a treat.
    • 1763, Robert Lloyd, “A Familiar Epistle”, in St. James Magazine:
      But when, obedient to the mode / Of panegyric, courtly ode / The bard bestrides, his annual hack, / In vain I taste, and sip and smack, / I find no flavour of the Sack.
  5. To kiss with a close compression of the lips, so as to make a sound when they separate.
Translations Translations Translations Adverb

smack (not comparable)

  1. As if with a smack or slap; smartly; sharply.
    Right smack in the middle.

Smack
Etymology

Possibly an Americanized form of German Schmack.

Proper noun
  1. Surname.



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