Meek vs Reek - What's the difference?
meek | reek |
Humble, modest, meager, or self-effacing.
* 1848:
* "Blessed are the meek , for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5)
Submissive, dispirited.
* 1920: , Main Street [http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/ot2www-pubeng?specfile=/texts/english/modeng/publicsearch/modengpub.o2w&act=surround&offset=432765822&tag=Lewis,+Sinclair:+Main+Street,+1920&query=+meek&id=LewMain]
A strong unpleasant smell.
Vapor; steam; smoke; fume.
* Shakespeare
(archaic) To be emitted or exhaled, emanate, as of vapour or perfume.
To have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell.
(figuratively) To be evidently associated with something unpleasant.
(Ireland) A hill; a mountain.
As verbs the difference between meek and reek
is that meek is to tame; to break while reek is to be emitted or exhaled, emanate, as of vapour or perfume.As an adjective meek
is humble, modest, meager, or self-effacing.As a noun reek is
a strong unpleasant smell.meek
English
Adjective
(er)- Mrs. Wickam was a meek woman...who was always ready to pity herself, or to be pitied, or to pity anybody else...
- What if they were wolves instead of lambs? They'd eat her all the sooner if she was meek to them. Fight or be eaten.
Synonyms
* See alsoreek
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) rek, ‘smoke, fog’, Albanian regj ‘to tan’).Vladimir Orel, A Handbook of Germanic Etymology , s.vv. “*raukiz”, “*reukanan”(Leiden: Brill, 2003), 299:303.Noun
(-)- As hateful to me as the reek of a limekiln.
Etymology 2
From (etyl) reken ‘to smoke’, from (etyl) . See above.Verb
(en verb)- You reek of perfume.
- Your fridge reeks of egg.
- The boss appointing his nephew as a director reeks of nepotism.