smack

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“
"Mind, lads," the chairman said, "the life of an apprentice on board a North Sea smack is a hard one.

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Definitions (57)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (17)

  1. transitive verb To press together and open (the lips) quickly and noisily, as in eating or tasting.
  2. transitive verb To kiss noisily.
  3. transitive verb To strike sharply and with a loud noise.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (22)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (6)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (12)

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Examples

  • Darwin, in the end, even knew his smack was a bunch of hooey! —  Propeller Most Popular Stories
  • "Mind, lads," the chairman said, "the life of an apprentice on board a North Sea smack is a hard one. —  For Name and Fame Or Through Afghan Passes
  • but just as I heard that sound of "smack--smack," I saw Sir Alexander MacNairne not far off, and without stopping to remember that we were supposed to be Frisian peasant girls, I called to him. —  The Chauffeur and the Chaperon
  • The crew of the smack were a fine-looking set of men, well made, with handsome, frank faces -- six men and a boy; but all they got for their night's danger and toil was some three dozen herrings. —  A Girl's Ride in Iceland
  • As he spoke the course of the smack was altered, and the side that had been so low down that at times it was almost possible to touch the water was high up and the other lower down, and the smack rushed through the water, as it seemed, faster than ever. —  Menhardoc
 

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Smack has been looked up 283 times, favorited 0 times, listed 25 times, and commented on twice.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (10)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. Perhaps of Middle Flemish origin, or perhaps of imitative origin.
  2. Middle English, from Old English smæc.
  3. Dutch or Low German smak, from smakken, to fling, dash.
  4. 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.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (6)

  1. Formerly and still dial. assibilated smatch, q. v.; (a) from Middle English smacken, smackien, smaken, from Anglo-Saxon *smacian, smacigan = OFries. smakia = Middle Dutch smaecken, Dutch smaken = Middle Low German smaken, smacken = Old High German smakkēn, smachēn, smahhēn, give forth taste, MHG, smachen, smacken, taste, try, smell, perceive, = Icelandic smakka = Swedish smaka = Danish smage (Scandinavian prob. from Low German), taste; (b) from Middle English smecchen (preterit smeihte, smachte, smauhte, past participle smaught, ismaht, ismeiht, ismecched), have a savor, scent, taste, relish, imagine, understand, perceive, from Anglo-Saxon smeccan, smæccan, smecgan, taste, = OFries. smekka, smetsa = Middle Low German smecken = Old High German smecchan, Middle High German smecken, German schmecken, taste, try, smell, perceive; from the noun. The senses are more or less involved, but all rest on the sense ‘taste.’ The word is commonly but erroneously regarded as identical with smack, as if ‘taste’ proceeds from ‘smacking the lips.’
  2. Formerly and still dial. assibilated smatch, q. v.; from Middle English smak (also assibilated smach), from Anglo-Saxon smæc = Middle Dutch smæck, Dutch smaak = German geschmack = Swedish smak = Danish smag, taste: see smack, v. The Anglo-Saxon swæc, swæce, savor, smell, is a different word.
  3. from Middle English *smacken, from Middle Dutch smacken., Dutch smakken, smite, knock, cast, fling, throw, = Middle Low German smacken = Low German smakken, smack (the lips), = German schmatzen (variant of *schmacken; cf. English smatter), smack, fell (a tree), = Swedish smacka, smack, Swedish dial. smakka, throw down noisily, smäcka, hit smartly, = Danish smække, slam, bang; prob. orig. imitative, not connected with smack, taste, unless ultimately, in the same orig. imitative root. Hence ult. smash. Cf. smatter.
  4. from Middle English *smack = Dutch smak, a loud noise, = German schmatz, a smack, = Swedish dial. smäkk, a light, quick blow, = Danish smæk, a smack, rap: see smack, v.
  5. An elliptical use of smack, v.
  6. from Middle Dutch smacke, Dutch smak = Middle Low German smacke, Low German smak (cf. Danish smakke = Swedish smack = German schmacke = French semaque = Spanish esmaque = Portuguese sumaca, all from D. or Low German), a smack; generally thought to stand for *snack = Anglo-Saxon snacc = Icelandic snekkja = Swedish snäcka = Danish snekke, a small sailing vessel, a smack; cf. Swedish snäcka, Danish snekke = Middle Low German Low German snigge = Old High German sneggo, snecco, Middle High German snegge, snecke, German schnecke, a snail; from the root of English sneak, snake, snail: see sneak, snake, snag, snail. For the interchange of sm- and sn-, cf. swatter.
 

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/smæk/
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