stink
noun
- odor perceived as unpleasant by humans
verb
- to emit a strong odor
- be very bad at
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /stɪŋk/
adj
Etymology: From Middle English stinken, from Old English stincan, from Proto-Germanic *stinkwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ-, *stegʷ- (“to push, thrust, strike”). Cognate with West Frisian stjonke (“to stink”), Dutch stinken (“to stink”), German stinken (“to stink”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk stinke (“to stink”), Swedish stinka (“to stink”), Icelandic stökkva (“to spring, leap, jump”).
- Bad; inferior; worthless.
“The concert was stink. / That was a stink concert.”
- Bad-smelling, stinky.
“2013, Stabroek News, 19 February 2013, cited by Deborah Jan Osman Backer in a speech delivered in the National Assembly during the Budget Debate, 2013, Everyone is up in arms but it smells stink because it smells of racism…”
“Spending hours in a “stink" morgue, being called “Taliban”, thinking of getting shot in the head by officers—memories of Venezuela that have left Hamza Mohammed, imam of the Montrose mosque, still trembling today.”
noun
Etymology: From Middle English stinken, from Old English stincan, from Proto-Germanic *stinkwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ-, *stegʷ- (“to push, thrust, strike”). Cognate with West Frisian stjonke (“to stink”), Dutch stinken (“to stink”), German stinken (“to stink”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk stinke (“to stink”), Swedish stinka (“to stink”), Icelandic stökkva (“to spring, leap, jump”).
- A strong bad smell.
““I’m thankful for this beautiful morning!” He points toward the sky. “See that sunrise? Smell that air—” / “That’s stink from the rendering plant.””
- A complaint or objection.
“If you don't make a stink about the problem, nothing will be done.”
“She's made a big stink about me calling her "Miss", not "Ms".”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English stinken, from Old English stincan, from Proto-Germanic *stinkwaną, from Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ-, *stegʷ- (“to push, thrust, strike”). Cognate with West Frisian stjonke (“to stink”), Dutch stinken (“to stink”), German stinken (“to stink”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk stinke (“to stink”), Swedish stinka (“to stink”), Icelandic stökkva (“to spring, leap, jump”).
- To have a strong bad smell.
- To be greatly inferior; to perform badly.
“That movie stinks. I didn't even stay for the end.”
“They gave me Out of Africa, by Isak Dinesen. I thought it was going to stink, but it didn't. It was a very good book.”
- To give an impression of dishonesty, untruth, or sin.
“Something stinks about the politician's excuses.”
“The parish stank of idolatry, abominable rites were practiced in secret, and in all the bounds there was no one had a more evil name for the black traffic than one Alison Sempill, who bode at the Skerburnfoot.”
- To cause to stink; to affect by a stink.