smacking
- smart, brisk, or strong, as a breeze.
- Chiefly British Slang. smashing.
Origin of smacking
smack1
- a taste or flavor, especially a slight flavor distinctive or suggestive of something: The chicken had just a smack of garlic.
- a trace, touch, or suggestion of something.
- a taste, mouthful, or small quantity.
- to have a taste, flavor, trace, or suggestion: Your politeness smacks of condescension.
Origin of smack1
Synonyms
See more synonyms for smack on Thesaurus.comsmack2
- to strike sharply, especially with the open hand or a flat object.
- to drive or send with a sharp, resounding blow or stroke: to smack a ball over a fence.
- to close and open (the lips) smartly so as to produce a sharp sound, often as a sign of relish, as in eating.
- to kiss with or as with a loud sound.
- to smack the lips.
- to collide, come together, or strike something forcibly.
- to make a sharp sound as of striking against something.
- a sharp, resounding blow, especially with something flat.
- a smacking of the lips, as in relish or anticipation.
- a resounding or loud kiss.
- suddenly and violently: He rode smack up against the side of the house.
- directly; straight: The street runs smack into the center of town.
- smack down, Slang. to humble (an arrogant person); rebuke or criticize severely.
Origin of smack2
Examples from the Web for smacking
Contemporary Examples
“Yelling and screaming and smacking me,” Thicke half-raps on the dark, paranoid track.
What about the law against the IRS smacking Tea Party-type nonprofits over the head with a two-by-four?
She did a pretty good job at first, but she did get a little bit hurt by smacking her bow arm with the string.
‘Catching Fire’: How Jennifer Lawrence Learned to Shoot a Bow and ArrowKevin Fallon
November 26, 2013
A car had swerved out of control, plowing into two other cars, then smacking into several people on the sidewalk.
I liked that they all said, ‘Huddle up dudes,’ and one would be smacking the other in the head, and it was really funny.
Historical Examples
"It has a twang of the wine cask in it," said one, smacking his lips.
Tanglewood TalesNathaniel Hawthorne
The porter could hardly refrain, from smacking his lips with an air of relish as he said this.
Henry DunbarM. E. Braddon
We can none of us go about smacking innocent folks just for the fun of it.
Jan and Her JobL. Allen Harker
"Nothing is better before soup," declared Boche, smacking his lips.
L'AssommoirEmile Zola
Lantier, who felt gay, was sucking his barley-sugar, and smacking his lips.
L'AssommoirEmile Zola
smacking
- brisk; livelya smacking breeze
smack1
- a smell or flavour that is distinctive though faint
- a distinctive trace or touchthe smack of corruption
- a small quantity, esp a mouthful or taste
- to have the characteristic smell or flavour (of something)to smack of the sea
- to have an element suggestive (of something)his speeches smacked of bigotry
Word Origin
smack2
- (tr) to strike or slap smartly, with or as if with the open hand
- to strike or send forcibly or loudly or to be struck or sent forcibly or loudly
- to open and close (the lips) loudly, esp to show pleasure
- (tr) to kiss noisily
- a sharp resounding slap or blow with something flat, or the sound of such a blow
- a loud kiss
- a sharp sound made by the lips, as in enjoyment
- have a smack at informal, mainly British to attempt
- smack in the eye informal, mainly British a snub or setback
- directly; squarely
- with a smack; sharply and unexpectedly
Word Origin
smack3
- a slang word for heroin
Word Origin
smack4
- a sailing vessel, usually sloop-rigged, used in coasting and fishing along the British coast
- a fishing vessel equipped with a well for keeping the catch alive
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for smacking
smack
n.1
"a taste, flavor, savor" especially a slight flavor that suggests something, from Old English smæc "taste; scent, odor," from Proto-Germanic *smak- (cf. Old Frisian smek, Middle Dutch smæck, Dutch smaak, Old High German smac, German Geschmack, Swedish smak, Danish smag), from a Germanic and Baltic root *smeg- meaning "to taste" (cf. Lithuanian smaguriai "dainties," smagus "pleasing"). Meaning "a trace (of something)" is attested from 1530s.
smack
v.1
"make a sharp noise with the lips," 1550s, probably of imitative origin (see smack (v.2)). With adverbial force, "suddenly, directly," from 1782; extended form smack-dab is attested from 1892, American English colloquial (slap-dab is from 1886).
smack
n.3
single-masted sailboat, 1610s, probably from Dutch or Low German smak "sailboat," perhaps from smakken "to fling, dash" (see smack (v.2)), perhaps so-called from the sound made by its sails. French semaque, Spanish zumaca, Italian semacca probably are Germanic borrowings.
smack
n.4
"heroin," 1942, American English slang, probably an alteration of schmeck "a drug," especially heroin (1932), from Yiddish schmeck "a sniff."
smack
v.2
"to slap a flat surface with the hand," 1835, from smack (n.) in this sense; perhaps influenced by Low German smacken "to strike, throw," which is likely of imitative origin (cf. Swedish smak "slap," Middle Low German smacken, Frisian smakke, Dutch smakken "to fling down," Lithuanian smagiu "to strike, knock down, whip").
smack
v.3
mid-13c., "to smell (something"); mid-14c., "to taste (something), perceive by taste" (transitive); late 14c. "to have a taste, taste of" (intransitive), from smack (n.1). Cf. Old English smæccan "to taste," Old Frisian smakia Middle Dutch smaecken, Old High German smakken "have a savor, scent, or taste," German schmecken "taste, try, smell, perceive." Sometimes also smatch. Now mainly in verbal figurative use smacks of ... (first attested 1590s). "Commonly but erroneously regarded as identical with [smack (n.2)], as if 'taste' proceeds from 'smacking the lips.'" [Century Dictionary]
smack
n.2
"smart, sharp sound made by the lips," 1560s, from smack (v.1). Meaning "a loud kiss" is recorded from c.1600. Meaning "sharp sound made by hitting something with the flat of the hand" is from c.1746.
smack
(smăk)- Heroin.