stink

[stingk] /stɪŋk/
verb (used without object), stank or, often stunk; stunk; stinking.
1.
to emit a strong offensive smell.
2.
to be offensive to honesty or propriety; to be in extremely bad repute or disfavor.
3.
Informal. to be disgustingly inferior:
That book stinks.
4.
Slang. to have a large quantity of something (usually followed by of or with):
They stink of money. She stinks with jewelry.
verb (used with object), stank or, often stunk; stunk; stinking.
5.
to cause to stink or be otherwise offensive (often followed by up):
an amateurish performance that really stank up the stage.
noun
6.
a strong offensive smell; stench.
7.
Informal. an unpleasant fuss; scandal:
There was a big stink about his accepting a bribe.
8.
stinks, (used with a singular verb) British Slang. chemistry as a course of study.
Verb phrases
9.
stink out, to repel or drive out by means of a highly offensive smell.
Origin
before 900; (v.) Middle English stinken, Old English stincan; (noun) Middle English, derivative of the v.; cognate with German stinken. (v.); cf. stench
Related forms
outstink, verb (used with object), outstank or, often outstunk; outstunk; outstinking.
Synonyms
1. reek.
Examples from the web for stink
  • Dairy farms smell, but chicken farms stink, especially in the mid-afternoon heat.
  • Apparently the fruit's sweet, creamy center is a treasure worth pursuing if you can bear the stink and get past the spiky husk.
  • The crew was ordered to the higher decks and armed with smoke bombs and bottles of butyric acid, which are mega stink bombs.
  • When a group of bed bugs gets disturbed, you may get a whiff of that odor, which is similar to the odor stink bugs give off.
  • The stink of exhaust, the mind-numbing tedium of traffic, parking lots blighting central city real estate.
  • It is these amino-acid-eaters that cause feet to stink.
  • The second reason coaches stink at making decisions on fourth down is that they stink at statistics.
  • They remain calm in his presence but grow consternated when they catch the stink of a stranger.
  • Everyone knows that dead animals begin to rot and stink as bacteria break down their meat and give off toxic chemicals.
  • Both parties could get away with this policy as long as no one made a stink about it.
British Dictionary definitions for stink

stink

/stɪŋk/
noun
1.
a strong foul smell; stench
2.
(slang) a great deal of trouble (esp in the phrase to make or raise a stink)
3.
like stink, intensely; furiously
verb (mainly intransitive) stinks, stinking, stank, stunk, stunk
4.
to emit a foul smell
5.
(slang) to be thoroughly bad or abhorrent: this town stinks
6.
(informal) to have a very bad reputation: his name stinks
7.
to be of poor quality
8.
(slang) foll by of or with. to have or appear to have an excessive amount (of money)
9.
(informal) (transitive) usually foll by up. to cause to stink
See also stink out
Word Origin
Old English stincan; related to Old Saxon stinkan, German stinken, Old Norse stökkva to burst; see stench
Word Origin and History for stink
v.

Old English stincan "emit a smell of any kind" (class III strong verb; past tense stonc), from West Germanic *stenkwanan (cf. Old Saxon stincan, Old High German stinkan, Dutch stinken), from the root of stench. Old English swote stincan "to smell sweet," but offensive sense began in Old English and was primary by mid-13c.; smell now tends the same way. Figurative meaning "be offensive" is from early 13c.; meaning "be inept" is recorded from 1924. To stink to high heaven first recorded 1963.

n.

c.1300, from stink (v.). Sense of "extensive fuss" first recorded 1812.

Slang definitions & phrases for stink

stink

noun phrase

(also big stink) An extensive fuss; huge brouhaha; scandal: ''I never made a big stink about it,'' says Righetti (1812+)

verb

(also stink on ice)Tobe deplorable, nasty, totally inept or bungling, disgusting, etc; rot, suck: The whole idea stinks, if you ask me/ The group and its main man stunk on ice (1225+)

Related Terms

act like one's shit doesn't stink, think one's shit doesn't stink


Idioms and Phrases with stink

stink

In addition to the idiom beginning with
stink
also see: