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smack

 [smak]   Example Sentences Origin

smack

1   [smak]
noun
1.
a taste or flavor, especially a slight flavor distinctive or suggestive of something: The chicken had just a smack of garlic.
2.
a trace, touch, or suggestion of something.
3.
a taste, mouthful, or small quantity.
verb (used without object)
4.
to have a taste, flavor, trace, or suggestion: Your politeness smacks of condescension.

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Smack is one of our favorite verbs.
So is absquatulate. Does it mean:
to flee; abscond:
to run away hurriedly; flee.
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Origin:
before 1000; (noun) Middle English smacke, Old English smæc; cognate with Middle Low German smak, German Geschmack taste; (v.) Middle English smacken to perceive by taste, have a (specified) taste, derivative of the noun; compare German schmacken

Synonyms
1. savor. 2. hint. 4. taste, suggest.

Example Sentences
  • Take the initiative, smack them around, and tell them what to do.
  • For a country used to the smack of firm government, this unstable construction is a risky venture.
  • Claiming credit for this bounty might seem to smack of cronyism.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged

smack

2   [smak]
verb (used with object)
1.
to strike sharply, especially with the open hand or a flat object.
2.
to drive or send with a sharp, resounding blow or stroke: to smack a ball over a fence.
3.
to close and open (the lips) smartly so as to produce a sharp sound, often as a sign of relish, as in eating.
4.
to kiss with or as with a loud sound.
verb (used without object)
5.
to smack the lips.
6.
to collide, come together, or strike something forcibly.
7.
to make a sharp sound as of striking against something.
noun
8.
a sharp, resounding blow, especially with something flat.
9.
a smacking of the lips, as in relish or anticipation.
10.
a resounding or loud kiss.
adverb Informal.
11.
suddenly and violently: He rode smack up against the side of the house.
12.
directly; straight: The street runs smack into the center of town.
Origin:
1550–60; imitative; compare Dutch, Low German smakken, German (dial.) schmacken

smack

3   [smak]
noun
1.
Eastern U.S. a fishing vessel, especially one having a well for keeping the catch alive.
2.
British. any of various small, fully decked, fore-and-aft-rigged vessels used for trawling or coastal trading.
Origin:
1605–15; < Dutch smak

smack

4   [smak]
noun Slang.
heroin.
Origin:
1960–65; probably special use of smack1; compare earlier slang schmeck with same sense (< Yiddish shmek sniff, whiff; compare Middle High German smecken (German schmecken) to taste)

Hen·der·son

   [hen-der-suhn]
noun
1.
Arthur, 1863–1935, British statesman and labor leader: Nobel peace prize 1934.
2.
David Brem·ner  [brem-ner] , 1840–1906, U.S. political leader: Speaker of the House 1899–1903.
3.
Fletcher (“Smack”), 1898–1952, U.S. jazz pianist, arranger, and bandleader.
4.
a city in NW Kentucky, on the Ohio River. 24,834.
5.
a city in SE Nevada, near Las Vegas. 24,363.
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6.
a city in N North Carolina. 13,522.
7.
a town in E Texas. 11,473.
COLLAPSE
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To Smack
Collins
World English Dictionary
smack1 (smæk)
 
—n
1.  a smell or flavour that is distinctive though faint
2.  a distinctive trace or touch: the smack of corruption
3.  a small quantity, esp a mouthful or taste
 
—vb (foll by of)
4.  to have the characteristic smell or flavour (of something): to smack of the sea
5.  to have an element suggestive (of something): his speeches smacked of bigotry
 
[Old English smæc; related to Old High German smoc, Icelandic smekkr a taste, Dutch smaak]

smack2 (smæk)
 
—vb
1.  (tr) to strike or slap smartly, with or as if with the open hand
2.  to strike or send forcibly or loudly or to be struck or sent forcibly or loudly
3.  to open and close (the lips) loudly, esp to show pleasure
4.  (tr) to kiss noisily
 
—n
5.  a sharp resounding slap or blow with something flat, or the sound of such a blow
6.  a loud kiss
7.  a sharp sound made by the lips, as in enjoyment
8.  informal chiefly (Brit) have a smack at to attempt
9.  informal chiefly (Brit) smack in the eye a snub or setback
 
—adv
10.  directly; squarely
11.  with a smack; sharply and unexpectedly
 
[C16: from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch smacken, probably of imitative origin]

smack3 (smæk)
 
—n
a slang word for heroin
 
[C20: perhaps from Yiddish schmeck]

smack4 (smæk)
 
—n
1.  a sailing vessel, usually sloop-rigged, used in coasting and fishing along the British coast
2.  a fishing vessel equipped with a well for keeping the catch alive
 
[C17: from Low German smack or Dutch smak, of unknown origin]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

smack
"taste, flavor," now mainly in verbal figurative use smacks of ... (first attested 1595), from O.E. smæc, from P.Gmc. *smak- (cf. O.Fris. smek, Du. smaak, O.H.G. smac, Ger. Geschmack); probably related to Lith. smaguriai "dainties," smagus "pleasing." Meaning "a trace (of something)" is attested
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from 1539.

smack
"make a sharp noise with the lips," 1557, probably of imitative origin (see smack (v.2)). Meaning "a loud kiss" is recorded from 1604. With adverbial force, attested from 1782; extended form smack-dab is attested from 1892, Amer.Eng. colloquial.

smack
"single-masted sailboat," 1611, probably from Du. or Low Ger. smak "sailboat," from smakken "to fling, dash" (see smack (v.2)), perhaps so-called from the sound made by its sails. Fr. semaque, Sp. zumaca, It. semacca probably are Gmc. borrowings.

smack
"heroin," 1942, Amer.Eng. slang, probably an alteration of schmeck "a drug," esp. heroin (1932), from Yiddish schmeck "a sniff."
COLLAPSE

smack
"to slap with the hand," 1835, from noun in this sense (c.1746), perhaps influenced by Low Ger. smacken "to strike, throw," which is likely of imitative origin (cf. Swed. smak "slap," M.L.G. smacken, Fris. smakke, Du. smakken "to fling down," Lith. smagiu "to strike, knock down, whip").
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

smack (smāk)
n.
Heroin.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
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