Link Centre Dictionary

smack

UK/smæk/ US/ˈsmæk/ fairly common slang
verb (5) noun (6) adverb (1)

verb

1.

deliver a hard blow to

  • “The teacher smacked the student who had misbehaved”
Synonyms
2.

have an element suggestive (of something)

  • “his speeches smacked of racism”
Synonyms
3.

have a distinctive or characteristic taste

  • “This tastes of nutmeg”
Synonyms
4.

kiss lightly

Synonyms
5.

eat noisily by smacking one''s lips

noun

1.

a blow from a flat object (as an open hand)

Synonyms
2.
3.

a sailing ship (usually rigged like a sloop or cutter) used in fishing and sailing along the coast

4.
5.

an enthusiastic kiss

Synonyms
6.

(baseball) a ball struck with the bat so that it does not stay between the lines (the foul lines) that define the width of the playing field

Synonyms

adverb

1.

directly

  • “he ran bang into the pole”
  • “ran slap into her”
Synonyms

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • lay the smack down
  • like smack
  • smack around
  • smack down
  • smack in the face
  • smack out
  • smack talk
  • smack up
  • talk smack

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.