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smack

 - 15 dictionary results

smack

1  [smak]
Use smack in a Sentence
–noun
1. a taste or flavor, esp. 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.
Origin:
bef. 1000; (n.) ME smacke, OE smæc; c. MLG smak, G Geschmack taste; (v.) ME smacken to perceive by taste, have a (specified) taste, deriv. of the n.; cf. G schmacken

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

smack

2  [smak]
–verb (used with object)
1. to strike sharply, esp. 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, esp. 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; imit.; cf. D, LG smakken, G (dial.) schmacken

smack

3  [smak]
–noun
1. Eastern U.S. a fishing vessel, esp. 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; < D smak

smack

4  [smak]
–noun Slang.
heroin.
Origin:
1960–65; prob. special use of smack 1 ; cf. earlier slang schmeck with same sense (< Yiddish shmek sniff, whiff; cf. MHG smecken (G 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.
6. a city in N North Carolina. 13,522.
7. a town in E Texas. 11,473.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To smack
smack 1   (smāk)   
v.   smacked, smack·ing, smacks

v.   tr.

  1. To press together and open (the lips) quickly and noisily, as in eating or tasting.

  2. To kiss noisily.

  3. To strike sharply and with a loud noise.

v.   intr.

  1. To make or give a smack.

  2. To collide sharply and noisily: The ball smacked against the side of the house.

n.  

  1. The loud sharp sound of smacking.

  2. A noisy kiss.

  3. A sharp blow or slap.

adv.  

  1. With a smack: fell smack on her head.

  2. Directly: "We were smack in the middle of another controversy about a public man's personal life" (Ellen Goodman).


[Perhaps of Middle Flemish origin, or perhaps of imitative origin.]
smack 2   (smāk)   
n.  

    1. A distinctive flavor or taste.

    2. A suggestion or trace.

  2. A small amount; a smattering.

intr.v.   smacked, smack·ing, smacks

  1. To have a distinctive flavor or taste. Used with of.

  2. To give an indication; be suggestive. Often used with of: "an agenda that does not smack of compromise" (Time).


[Middle English, from Old English smæc.]
smack 3   (smāk)   
n.  A fishing boat sailing under various rigs, according to size, and often having a well used to transport the catch to market.

[Dutch or Low German smak, from smakken, to fling, dash.]
smack 4   (smāk)   
n.   Slang
Heroin.

[Probably variant of smeck, from Yiddish shmek, a sniff, swell, from shmekn, to sniff, smell, from Middle High German smecken, smacken, to smell, taste, from Old High German smac, smell, taste.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

smack  (n.1)
"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 from 1539.

smack  (n.3)
"heroin," 1942, Amer.Eng. slang, probably an alteration of schmeck "a drug," esp. heroin (1932), from Yiddish schmeck "a sniff."

smack  (v.1)
"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  (n.2)
"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  (v.2)
"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, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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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.
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