stunk
[stuhngk]
- a simple past tense and past participle of stink.
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stink
[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
Examples from the Web for stunk
Contemporary Examples
One episode, the Christmas one, we all pigged out like crazy and went to see Tron: Legacy right after, and we all stunk horribly.
Historical Examples
As for the effluent, it was thick and turbid, and stunk like a dirty brewery.
The Dwelling HouseGeorge Vivian Poore
First the candle burnt down in its socket and stunk: he did not notice it.
Desperate RemediesThomas Hardy
It was fishy—it stunk from here to Mars, but Rinehart covered it up fast and clean.
MartyrAlan Edward Nourse
There have been times when the Fraser River stunk with rotten salmon.
Poor Man's RockBertrand W. Sinclair
"The 'fire', if you want to call it that, must have stunk up the place pretty badly," said one of the men dryly.
Anything You Can Do ...Gordon Randall Garrett
stunk
- a past tense and past participle of stink
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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 stunk
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 stunk
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.