stinking
[sting-king]
- that smells foul; foul-smelling.
- Slang. very drunk; plastered.
- Slang. very rich: His father left him so much money he's stinking.
- contemptible; disgusting: a stinking shame.
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- completely or extremely: stinking drunk.
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Origin of stinking
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comstink
[stingk]
- to emit a strong offensive smell.
- to be offensive to honesty or propriety; to be in extremely bad repute or disfavor.
- Informal. to be disgustingly inferior: That book stinks.
- Slang. to have a large quantity of something (usually followed by of or with): They stink of money. She stinks with jewelry.
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- to cause to stink or be otherwise offensive (often followed by up): an amateurish performance that really stank up the stage.
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- a strong offensive smell; stench.
- Informal. an unpleasant fuss; scandal: There was a big stink about his accepting a bribe.
- stinks, (used with a singular verb) British Slang. chemistry as a course of study.
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- stink out, to repel or drive out by means of a highly offensive smell.
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Origin of stink
before 900; (v.) Middle English stinken, Old English stincan; (noun) Middle English, derivative of the v.; cognate with German stinken. (v.); cf. stench
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com1. reek.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
putrid, funky, fetid, foul, rank, reeking, malodorous, mephitic, noisome, offensive, rancid, odiferousExamples from the Web for stinking
Contemporary Examples
And “stinking rich” is the smell of zero carbon emissions at eco-friendly tech company campuses.
Now those are destroyed, too, and the animals are strewn about, bloating and stinking, as if in a tableau of “Guernica.”
But the language about public schools and cricket bewildered audiences and Frank Rich gave it a stinking review.
Bring ‘Another Country’ to Broadway: Why a Hit British Classic Needs Its New York MomentTom Teodorczuk
June 2, 2014
She goes on to dismiss “stinking romanticism” as sick, akin to “boils & blisters & warts.”
And Alfonso goes, "Badges, we don't need no stinking badges" and starts shooting at them.
Historical Examples
Light must be brought into this dark, muddy, stinking labyrinth.
Diary from November 12, 1862, to October 18, 1863Adam Gurowski
The specific name, "nasty" or "stinking," has really no application to the plant.
The Mushroom, Edible and OtherwiseM. E. Hard
If I am to be drowned, it sha'n't be in the stinking Red River.
Tentacles gripped at him, the foul, stinking smell gagged him.
A blast of fetid, stinking air struck his face, and he choked.
stinking
- having a foul smell
- informal unpleasant or disgusting
- (postpositive) slang very drunk
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- informal (intensifier, expressing contempt for the person referred to)stinking rich
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stink
- a strong foul smell; stench
- slang a great deal of trouble (esp in the phrase to make or raise a stink)
- like stink intensely; furiously
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- to emit a foul smell
- slang to be thoroughly bad or abhorrentthis town stinks
- informal to have a very bad reputationhis name stinks
- to be of poor quality
- (foll by of or with) slang to have or appear to have an excessive amount (of money)
- (tr usually foll by up) informal to cause to stink
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See also stink out
Word Origin
Old English stincan; related to Old Saxon stinkan, German stinken, Old Norse stökkva to burst; see stench
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for stinking
adj.
present participle adjective from stink (v.). Modifying drunk, first attested 1887; stinking rich dates from 1956.
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stink
v.
Old English stincan "emit a smell of any kind" (class III strong verb; past tense stonc), from West Germanic *stenkwanan (cf. Old Saxon stincan, Old High German stinkan, Dutch stinken), from the root of stench. Old English swote stincan "to smell sweet," but offensive sense began in Old English and was primary by mid-13c.; smell now tends the same way. Figurative meaning "be offensive" is from early 13c.; meaning "be inept" is recorded from 1924. To stink to high heaven first recorded 1963.
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stink
n.
c.1300, from stink (v.). Sense of "extensive fuss" first recorded 1812.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with stinking
stink
In addition to the idiom beginning with stink
- stink to high heaven
also see:
- big stink
- make a stink
- smell (stink) up
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.