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Smell vs Smack - What's the difference?

smell | smack |

As nouns the difference between smell and smack

is that smell is a sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance while smack is a distinct flavor.

As verbs the difference between smell and smack

is that smell is to sense a smell or smells while smack is to indicate or suggest something.

As an adverb smack is

as if with a smack or slap.

smell

English

Noun

  • A sensation, pleasant or unpleasant, detected by inhaling air (or, the case of water-breathing animals, water) carrying airborne molecules of a substance.
  • I love the smell of fresh bread.
  • * 1908 , (Kenneth Grahame), (The Wind in the Willows)
  • The penetrating smell' of cabbage reached the nose of Toad as he lay prostrate in his misery on the floor, and gave him the idea for a moment that perhaps life was not such a blank and desperate thing as he had imagined. But still he wailed, and kicked with his legs, and refused to be comforted. So the wise girl retired for the time, but, of course, a good deal of the ' smell of hot cabbage remained behind, as it will do, and Toad, between his sobs, sniffed and reflected, and gradually began to think new and inspiring thoughts: of chivalry, and poetry...
  • (physiology) The sense that detects odours.
  • Usage notes

    * Adjectives often applied to "smell": sweet, good, nice, great, pleasant, fresh, fragrant, bad, foul, unpleasant, horrible, terrible, awful, nasty, disgusting, funny, strange, odd, sour, funky, metallic, stinky, rotten, rancid, putrid, rank, fishy.

    Synonyms

    * (sensation) ** (pleasant) aroma, fragrance, odor/odour, scent ** (unpleasant) odor/odour, niff (informal), pong (informal), reek, stench, stink, whiff (informal) * (sense) olfaction (in technical use), sense of smell * See also

    Verb

  • To sense a smell or smells.
  • To have a particular smell, whether good or bad; if descriptive, followed by "like" or "of".
  • * , chapter=8
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=Philander went into the next room
  • (without a modifier) To smell bad; to stink.
  • (figurative) To have a particular tincture or smack of any quality; to savour.
  • * (John Milton)
  • Praises in an enemy are superfluous, or smell of craft.
  • (obsolete) To exercise sagacity.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • To detect or perceive; often with out .
  • * Shakespeare
  • I smell a device.
  • (obsolete) To give heed to.
  • * Latimer
  • From that time forward I began to smell the Word of God, and forsook the school doctors.

    Usage notes

    The sense "to smell bad, stink" is considered by some to be an incorrect substitute for stink.

    Synonyms

    * (sense a smell or smells) detect, sense * (have the smell of) (all followed by'' like''' ''or'' ' of ) ** (pleasant) ** (unpleasant) pong (informal), reek, stink, whiff (informal)

    Derived terms

    * code smells * sense of smell (see olfaction) * smell a rat * smell blood * smell like a rose * smell of an oily rag * smell test * smell the barn * smelly * wake up and smell the coffee

    See also

    * anosmia * sense

    References

    * *

    smack

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) smac, smak, smacke, from (etyl) . More at smake, smatch.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A distinct flavor.
  • A slight trace of something; a smattering.
  • * 1883 ,
  • He was not sailorly, and yet he had a smack of the sea about him too.
  • (slang) Heroin.
  • Derived terms
    * (l)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To indicate or suggest something.
  • Her reckless behavior smacks of pride.
  • * Shakespeare
  • All sects, all ages, smack of this vice.
  • To have a particular taste.
  • Derived terms
    * smack of

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) smack (Low German .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small sailing vessel, commonly rigged as a sloop, used chiefly in the coasting and fishing trade and often called a .
  • Etymology 3

    From or akin to (etyl) ).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A sharp blow; a slap. See also: spank.
  • A loud kiss.
  • * Shakespeare
  • a clamorous smack
  • A quick, sharp noise, as of the lips when suddenly separated, or of a whip.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To slap someone, or to make a smacking sound.
  • * (Benjamin Disraeli)
  • A horse neighed, and a whip smacked , there was a whistle, and the sound of a cart wheel.
  • (New Zealand) To strike a child (usually on the buttocks) as a form of discipline. (US spank)
  • To wetly separate the lips, making a noise, after tasting something or in expectation of a treat.
  • * 1763 , Robert Lloyd, “A Familiar Epistle” in St. James Magazine :
  • But when, obedient to the mode / Of panegyric, courtly ode / The bard bestrides, his annual hack, / In vain I taste, and sip and smack , / I find no flavour of the Sack.
  • To kiss with a close compression of the lips, so as to make a sound when they separate.
  • Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • As if with a smack or slap
  • Right smack bang in the middle.
    Derived terms
    * smack-dab

    Anagrams

    * ----