Forms: 3–4 stinc, 4 stenke, stinck, stync, 4–5 stynke, 4–6 stynk, 4–7 stinke, 7 stincke, 4– stink. [f. the vb.
Perh. in some instances a dialectal variant of stinch: see STENCH sb. γ.]
1. A foul, disgusting or offensive smell: = STENCH sb. 2.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11860. Þe roting þat him rennes vte, Þe stinck þat ai es him a-bute, Ne mai na liueand man it thole.
1382. Wyclif, Joel ii. 20. The stynk of hym shal stye vp.
c. 1420. Sir Amadace (Camden), vi. Suche a stinke in the chapelle he hade, That dwelle ther he ne myȝte.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 62 b. I am suere that the white laus tibi hath the stynk that Dioscorides speketh of.
1611. Bible, 2 Macc. ix. 10. And the man that thought a little afore he could reach to the starres of heauen, no man could endure to carry for his intollerable stinke.
1674. Boyle, Excell. Theol., II. iii. 150. Why the smell of Castor or Assa Fœtida produces in most persons that which they call a stink rather than a perfume.
1727. Pope, Thoughts Var. Subj., lxxv. A little Whiff of it [ambergrise] … is very agreeable; but when a Man holds a whole Lump of it to your Nose, it is a Stink.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, II. iii. He had been kicking up horrid stinks for some time in his study.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 676. Hajek has detected in ozæna a short bacillus … which possesses the property of decomposing organic substances with the formation of a penetrating stink.
b. fig.
1673. Bunyan, Differ. Judgm., 8. The Persons … are now a stink, and reproach to religion.
2. Evil-smelling quality, offensive odor: = STENCH sb. 3.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2556. Summe he deden in vn-ðewed swinc, for it was fuȝel and ful o stinc.
c. 1366. Chaucer, A. B. C., 56. But if þou my socour bee To stink eterne he wole my gost exile.
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 171. Yitt sho mott not com att hur for stynk with-oute sho had at hur nece many wele-saueryng spycis.
1528. Lyndesay, Dreme, 325. That myrke Mansioun is tapessit with stynk.
1608. Rowlands, Humors Looking Gl., B 4 b. One of the damned crew that liues by drinke, And by Tobacco’s stillified stink.
1745. Sir C. H. Williams, in Jesse, Selwyn & Contemp. (1843), I. 65. But when the first [cracker] went off she threw the rest on the tea-table, where, one after another, they all went off, with much noise and not a little stink.
1882. ‘Ouida,’ In Maremma, I. 184. There is so much stink of oil and sickly smell of silkworms.
b. fig.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 6518. The syxte synne ys glotonye; þat ys a shameful vyleynye þat men doun of mete and drynk, For ouermoche ys abominable & stynk.
3. slang. (See quots.)
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict., s.v., When any robbery of moment has been committed, which causes much alarm, or of which much is said in the daily papers, the family people will say, there is a great stink about it.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 250. The newspapers … had raised before the eye and mind of the public, what the ‘patterers’ of his class proverbially call a ‘stink,’—that is, had opened the eyes of the unwary to the movements of ‘Chelsea George.’
4. pl. University and Public School slang for Natural Science (originally, for Chemistry) as a subject of study or university examinations.
1869. ‘Wat. Bradwood’ The O. V. H., v. He had abandoned further classics in final schools, and was aiming sedulously at a class in ‘stinks.’
1900. Farmer, Publ. Sch. Word-bk., Stinks subs. (general).—Chemistry. Also as a nickname for a lecturer thereon.
1902. Daily Chron., 12 Nov., 7/1. The old public schools … look on Mathematics as ‘’tics’ and Natural Science as ‘stinks,’ presumably from the days when Chemistry was the only branch of Natural Science taught.
5. Comb.: stink-ball, a missile contrived for the purpose of emitting a suffocating vapor when thrown among the enemy (see quot. 1802); stink berry U.S., the yellow buckthorn; stink-bird, the name in British Guiana for the Hoactzin, Opisthocomus cristatus; stink brand = stinking smut; stink-bug (see quots.); stink bush, (a) a species of star-anise (Illicium floridanum), a shrub growing in the southern United States (Funk’s Stand. Dict., 1895); (b) Austral., the rutaceous tree, Zieria smithii; stink-cat S. African, the zoril or mariput, Zorilla striata; stink-fly, a fly belonging to the genus Chrysopa; stink gland, a gland in certain animals producing a fetid secretion; stink grass, an ill-scented grass, Eragrostis major; stink pheasant = stink-bird; stink quartz, a variety of quartz, which emits a fetid odor when struck; stink-rat U.S. = STINK-POT 4 (Cent. Dict.); stink-shad, the mud-shad, Dorosoma cepedianum; stink-trap = stench-trap, STENCH sb. 5; stink-tree, (a) some tree native in Ceylon, having a disgusting odor; (b) dial. the name in the Isle of Wight for the guelder rose; stink-turtle = STINK-POT 4; stinkwort Austral., a plant of the genus Scrophularia.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Ball, *Stink-balls, those which yield a great stench when fired to annoy the enemy.
1802. C. James, Milit. Dict., s.v. Ball, Stink-Balls are prepared by a composition of mealed powder,… assa-fœtida, seraphim-gum or ferula, and bug and stinking herbs.
1869–73. T. R. Jones, Cassell’s Bk. Birds, III. 281. The Hoactzin, or *Stink Bird.
1891. Century Dict., *Stink-bug, any one of several malodorous bugs, particularly the common squash-bug, Anasa tristis, of the Coreidæ.
1902. L. O. Howard, Insect Bk., 313. The stink-bugs and their allies. (Family Pentatomidæ.)
1899. Rider Haggard, Swallow, 50. I have shammed dead like a *stink-cat when dogs are about.
1902. L. O. Howard, Insect Bk., 222. Chrysopidæ,… sometimes … called *stink flies.
1887. F. G. Heathcote, in Phil. Trans., CLXXIX. II. 164. These organs … are the first pair of *stink glands.
1884. Goode, Nat. Hist. Aquat. Anim., 610. In the Chesapeake region it is known as the ‘Mud-Shad,’ ‘Winter Shad,’ or *‘Stink Shad.’
1782. in Abridgm. Specif. Patents, Drains & Sewers (1874), 5. This machine or *stink trap is let into lead or any other sort of pipes.
1873. Spencer, Study Sociol., iii. (ed. 6), 67. Infecting gases that are kept out only so long as stink-traps are in good order.
1906. Hasluck’s Sanitary Conveniences & Drainage, xv. 151. A ‘trap,’ or ‘stink-trap,’ as it was formerly called, is [etc.].
1795. Thunberg’s Trav., IV. 234. The *stink-tree was called by the Dutch Strunt-hout,… on account of its disgusting odour, which resides especially in the thick stem and the larger branches.
1842. Bromfield, in Phytologist (1848), III. 421. Viburnum Opulus … is sometimes called stink-tree in this island [Isle of Wight].
1890. Kapunda Herald, 25 July, 2/5. The following letter was received from Mr. J. McDougall … regarding a sample of *stinkwort sent to him:—‘This sample has been duly examined, and I am satisfied that it is useless as a raw material from which to make paper stock.’
1897. Westm. Gaz., 23 July, 8/1. The Bill which has just been introduced into the New South Wales Parliament for the destruction of noxious weeds … has a scheduled list of weeds, including thistle, stinkwort, and several others.
