smack
/smæk/ noun, verb, adverb, proper noun
Forms smacks smacking smacked
- noun A distinct flavor, especially if slight. “rice pudding with a smack of cinnamon”
- noun A slight trace of something; a smattering.
- noun (slang, uncountable) Synonym of heroin.
- noun (Northern England) A form of fried potato; a scallop.
- verb (transitive) To get the flavor of.
- verb (intransitive) To have a particular taste; used with of.
- verb (intransitive) To indicate or suggest something; used with of. “Her reckless behavior smacks of pride.”
- noun A small sailing vessel, commonly rigged as a sloop, used chiefly in the coasting and fishing trade and often called a fishing smack.
- noun (collective) A group of jellyfish.
- noun A sharp blow; a slap. See also: spank.
- noun The sound of a loud kiss.
- noun A quick, sharp noise, as of the lips when suddenly separated, or of a whip.
- verb To slap or hit someone.
- verb To make a smacking sound.
- verb (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)
- verb To wetly separate the lips, making a noise, after tasting something or in expectation of a treat.
- verb To kiss with a close compression of the lips, so as to make a sound when they separate.
- adverb As if with a smack or slap; smartly; sharply. “Right smack in the middle of getting ready to leave.”
- proper noun A surname from German.
- proper noun (computing) An Apache-based solution stack consisting of Spark, Mesos, Akka, Cassandra, and Kafka.
Synonyms
heroin reek slap relish flavor flavour sapidity savor savour nip tang big H hell dust nose drops thunder skag scag smooch smacking thwack smell taste peck bang slapdash bolt
Etymology
The noun is from Middle English smac, smak, smacke, from Old English smæc, smæċċ (“taste, smatch”), from Proto-West Germanic *smakku, from Proto-Germanic *smakkuz (“a taste”), from Proto-Indo-European *smegʰ-, *smeg- (“to taste”). The verb is from Middle English smaken. Doublet of smatch (obsolete, “taste”; q.v.), from Old English smæċċan (“to taste, smack”).
Cognate with Scots smak (“scent, smell, taste, flavour”), Saterland Frisian Smoak (“taste”), West Frisian smaak (“taste”), Dutch smaak (“taste”), German Schmack, Geschmack (“taste”), Danish smag (“taste”), Swedish and Norwegian smak (“taste”), Norwegian smekke.
From Middle Low German smack (Low German Schmacke, Schmaake (“small ship”)) or Dutch smak, perhaps ultimately related to smakken, imitative of the sails' noise.
From Middle English *smakken, from Middle Dutch smacken (modern Dutch smakken (“to smack, pop, hurl down, crash”)), from Old Dutch *smakkon, from Proto-West Germanic *smak(k)ōn, ultimately of imitative origin.
Cognate West Frisian smakke, Middle Low German smacken (“to hit, hurl, fling”), Plautdietsch schmaksen (“to smack the lips”), German schmatzen (“eat noisily”), regional German schmacken, Schmackes (“vigour”) (compare Swedish smak (“slap”), the first part of Saterland Frisian smakmuulje (“to smack, slap”)).
Possibly an Americanized form of German Schmack.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A small sailing vessel, commonly rigged as a sloop, used chiefly in the coasting and fishing trade.
- noun Taste or flavor, esp. a slight taste or flavor; savor; tincture; as, a smack of bitter in the medicine. Also used figuratively.
- noun A small quantity; a taste. Dryden.
- adverb As if with a smack or slap. [Colloq.]
Etymology [D. smak; akin to LG. smack, smak, Dan. smakke, G. schmacke, F. semaque.]
Etymology [OE. smak, AS. ssm taste, savor; akin to D. smaak, G. geschmack, OHG. smac; cf. Lith. smagus pleasant. Cf. Smack, v. i.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “smack”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details