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
smack3
- Eastern U.S. a fishing vessel, especially one having a well for keeping the catch alive.
- British. any of various small, fully decked, fore-and-aft-rigged vessels used for trawling or coastal trading.
Origin of smack3
smack4
Origin of smack4
Examples from the Web for smacks
Contemporary Examples
In the video, Solange smacks and kicks her brother-in-law while Beyonce DOESN'T EVEN FLINCH.
Solange Smacks Jay Z, Legolas Slaps Bieber, and the Biggest Celebrity Feuds of the YearAmy Zimmerman
December 24, 2014
To many of us, that smacks of censorship, the highest offense to our pride in self-publicity.
About the only thing nearby that smacks of politics is an adjacent pop-up Halloween costume store.
One thing to be strenuously avoided is anything that smacks of glorifying the act itself.
He winks, smacks his lips and frantically drains the go-cup.
The Stacks: The Neville Brothers Stake Their Claim as Bards of the BayouJohn Ed Bradley
April 27, 2014
Historical Examples
The smacks made her hands red, for as yet she was not up to the trick.
I envy you what smacks of a race, a name, an ancestry, a lineage.
Lord KilgobbinCharles Lever
"This smacks of Turkish rather than of European rule," said the youth.
The Fortunes Of GlencoreCharles James Lever
The smacks pained, and the words "'Purim' presents" gnawed at my brain.
Jewish ChildrenSholem Naumovich Rabinovich
I got blows and thumps and smacks and whacks and pinches and kicks from all sides.
Jewish ChildrenSholem Naumovich Rabinovich
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 smacks
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.