smack

smack¹

/smak/, n.

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.

v.i.

4. to have a taste, flavor, trace, or suggestion: Your politeness smacks of condescension.

[bef. 1000; (n.) ME smacke, OE smaec; c. MLG smak, G Geschmack taste; (v.) ME smacken to perceive by taste, have a (specified) taste, deriv. of the n.; cf. G schmacken]

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

smack²

/smak/, v.t.

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.

v.i.

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.

n.

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.

adv. 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.

[1550-60; imit.; cf. D, LG smakken, G (dial.) schmacken]

smack³

/smak/, n.

1. Eastern U.S. a fishing vessel, esp. one having a well for keeping the catch alive.

2. Brit. any of various small, fully decked, fore-and-aft-rigged vessels used for trawling or coastal trading.

[1605-15; < D smak]

smack⁴

/smak/, n. Slang.

heroin.

[1960-65; prob. special use of SMACK¹; cf. earlier slang schmeck with same sense ( < Yiddish shmek sniff, whiff; cf. MHG smecken (G schmecken) to taste)]

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