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.
verb (used without object)
to have a taste, flavor, trace, or suggestion: Your politeness smacks of condescension.
Origin of smack
1
First recorded before 1000; (noun) Middle English smacke, Old English smæc; cognate with Middle Low German smak, German Geschmack “taste”; (verb) Middle English smacken “to perceive by taste, have a (specified) taste,” derivative of the noun; compare German schmacken
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.
verb (used without object)
to smack the lips.
to collide, come together, or strike something forcibly.
to make a sharp sound as of striking against something.
noun
a sharp, resounding blow, especially with something flat.
a smacking of the lips, as in relish or anticipation.
a resounding or loud kiss.
adverbInformal.
suddenly and violently: He rode smack up against the side of the house.
directly; straight: The street runs smack into the center of town.
Verb Phrases
smack down,Slang. to humble (an arrogant person); rebuke or criticize severely.
Origin of smack
2
First recorded in 1550–60; imitative; compare Dutch, Low German smakken, German (dialectal) schmacken
Definition for smack (3 of 4)
smack3
[ smak ]
/ smæk /
noun
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 smack
3
First recorded in 1605–15, smack is from the Dutch word smak
Definition for smack (4 of 4)
smack4
[ smak ]
/ smæk /
nounSlang.
heroin.
Origin of smack
4
First recorded in 1960–65; probably special use of smack1; compare earlier slang schmeck with same sense (from Yiddish shmek “sniff, whiff”; compare Middle High German smecken (German schmecken ) “to taste”
Then imagine a raging river where the water smacks into the piling and becomes turbulent.
This weird-looking plane could someday be a fast, clean option for air travel|Rob Verger|September 28, 2020|Popular Science
DART will travel to the 780-meter asteroid Didymos, where, in the fall of 2022, it will smack into Didymos’s 160-meter moonlet Dimorphos at well over 14,000 miles per hour.
The World’s Space Agencies Are on a Quest to Deflect a (Harmless) Asteroid|Jason Dorrier|September 27, 2020|Singularity Hub
To better understand the Hyades cluster, Oh and Evans compared the speed of stars smack in the center to those escaping from it.
Milky Way’s tidal forces are shredding a nearby star cluster|Ken Croswell|August 18, 2020|Science News For Students
To the uninitiated, this might smack of poor taste and inappropriate timing.
In One Corner of Syria, Christmas Spirit Somehow Manages to Survive|Peter Schwartzstein|December 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
His brother Sidronio immediately took over, and the Windy City reported no shortage of smack.
Mexico’s First Lady of Murder Is on the Lam|Michael Daly|October 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In the SMU study it was found that children lasted about 10 minutes after a smack before they started misbehaving again.
The Adrian Peterson Beating and the Christian Right's Love of Corporal Punishment|Amanda Marcotte|September 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Yes, Hillary Clinton talked some smack on Barack Obama to Jeff Goldberg in that interview.
So How Hawkish Is Hillary Clinton?|Michael Tomasky|August 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Now, they are smack dab in the middle of a GOP primary in Mississippi.
Mississippi GOP Plays Games With Black Votes|Ben Jacobs|June 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I think it has a smack of Swift—a very faint one it may be, but still enough to recall the flavour.
Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. II (of II)|Edmund Downey
Sir Edward's style has always a smack of the Daily Telegraph.
Flowers of Freethought|George W. Foote
Smack—there, the rope is parted, and it is too late for further argument.
A Smack Of Jellyfish And Other Strange Animal GroupsAnd, many of these animal groups have colorful, fanciful names: a murder of crows, a covey of partridges, a clowder of cats.