Forms: 1 stincan, 3 stinke-n, 4 stenk, stinc, stynke-n (4–5 sting, styng, styngk), 4–6 stynk, 4–7 stinke, stynkkyn, 5–6 stynke, 6 styncke, 6–7 stincke, 4– stink. Pa. t. 1–4 stanc, stonc, 3–4 stonk, pl. stunken, 4–5 stonke, 4–7 stanke, 5 stongke, 6 stonck, stunck, 6–9 stunk, 7 stunke, 8– stank; weak forms 5 stynkid, 6 stinckett, stynked. Pa. pple. 5 stonken, 6 stuncke, 7– stunk; weak 5 stynked. [Com. WGer.: OE. stincan str. vb. = OFris. *stiunka (WFris. stjonke), (M)Du., (M)LG. stinken (whence Sw. stinka, Da. stinke), OHG. stinchan (MHG., mod.G. stinken):—WGer. *stiŋkwan, f. Teut. root *stiŋkw- (:*staŋkw-: *stŋkw-; see STENCH sb. and v.).
The root is coincident in form with that of Goth. stigqan to come into collision, ON. støkkva str. vb. (MSw. stinka, stiunka) to spring, leap, fly off, and the causative form Goth. gastagqjan to collide with, ON. støkkva wk. vb. (MSw. stānkia, mod.Sw. stānka) to cause to spring, sprinkle, OE. stęncan to scatter, disperse. The identity of the root is possible, but in view of the great diversity in meaning it cannot be positively asserted.]
† 1. intr. To emit a smell or vapor of any kind; to smell (sweetly or otherwise). Obs.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss., 895. Flagrans, stincendi.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gram., xxxvii. (Z.), 220. Ic stince swote.
c. 1200. Ormin, 8194. To strawwenn gode gresess þær, Þatt stunnkenn swiþe swete.
2. To emit a strong offensive smell; to smell foully. (In early examples, a contextual use of sense 1.) Const. of.
Now implying violent disgust on the part of the speaker; in ordinary polite use avoided as unpleasantly forcible.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 236. Eal se lichoma stincð fule.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 37. Ðis oref … stincð fule for his golnesse.
c. 1200. Ormin, 4781. & all he toc forrþrihht anan To rotenn & to stinnkenn.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 326. Lazre þet stonc so long he hefde ileien i þer eorðe.
c. 1400. Maundev. (Roxb.), ii. 5. Þai trowed þat Cristez body schuld hafe stynked.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 84. How his brethe stinkyth.
1533. J. Heywood, Johan, A j. I wolde bete her … that she shall stynke.
1535. Coverdale, Exod. viii. 14. The land stanke of them.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 20. A floud of poyson … Which stunck so vildly, that it forst him slacke His grasping hold.
a. 1631. Donne, Poems, Elegy, iii. 31. Waters stincke soone, if in one place they bide.
1717. Prior, Alma, I. 51. When Cabbage stinks, or Roses smell.
1769. G. White, Selborne, Let. to Pennant, 30 Aug. I wish I had not forgot to mention the faculty that snakes have of stinking se defendendo.
1820. Shelley, Sensit. Pl., III. 57. The dock, and henbane, and hemlock dank,… stifled the air till the dead wind stank.
1889. J. K. Jerome, Three Men, iv. The High Street stunk of oil.
1899. Mary Kingsley, W. African Stud., i. 3. I myself saw certainly not less than 70 crocodiles at one time, let alone smelling them, for they do swarm in places and stink always.
b. fig. To be offensive; to be abhorrent; to savor offensively of something. Phrase, to stink in (a person’s) nostrils.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 138. Auh swuch sacrefise stinkeð to ure Louerd.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 8312. Þese twey cytees, boþe þey sank, For þey hadde ioye at synne þat stank.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 68. For oure forme synne stanke soo yn Godys nase, þat [etc.].
1535. Coverdale, Prov. x. 7. The name of the vngodly shal stynke.
1608. Shaks., Per., IV. vi. 145. He makes our profession as it were to stincke afore the face of the gods.
1612. Benvenuto’s Passenger, I. ii. 141. A false wicked tongue stinckes of an hereticall conscience, but what then?
1674. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 359. To make me stincke in the nostrills of my ould associates.
1867. Goldw. Smith, in Brodrick, Ess. Reform, 230. Reputed renegades, whose names stank in the nostrils of the party which they had left.
1886. Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll, i. We told the man we could … make such a scandal out of this, as should make his name stink from one end of London to the other.
Prov. c. 1386, 1539. [see PROFFERED ppl. a.]
† c. To stink out: to go out with a stink. Obs.
a. 1637. B. Jonson, Underwoods, Execr. Vulcan, 188. Or in the Bell-Mans Lanthorn, like a Spy, Burn to a Snuff, and then stink out and dye.
† d. trans. To smell offensively of. Obs.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 86. Þus þe ualse uikelare … wrieð hore fulðe so þæt heo hit ne muwen stinken…. Vor ȝif heo hit stunken, ham wolde wlatien þer aȝean.
3. quasi-trans. with complement. To stink to death, to kill by emitting a bad smell. Chiefly hyperbolical.
1624. Middleton, Game at Chess, V. iii. Hee would hazard to be stunk [v.rr. stung, strucke] to death.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, France & Italy, I. 173. Chicken-coops, which stink one to death.
1835. Browning, Paracelsus, III. 443. Such a suffumigation as, once fixed, Had stunk the patient dead ere he could groan.
4. trans. To fill (an animal’s earth) with suffocating fumes. Also, to drive (animals or persons) out of a place by stench or suffocating fumes.
1781. Beckford, Th. Hunting (1802), 338. In open countries foxes, when they are much disturbed, will lie at earth. If you have difficulty in finding, stinking the earths will sometimes produce them again. Ibid. Badgers … they may be caught by stinking them out of a great earth.
1860. Reade, Cloister & Hearth, xliii. (1896), 125. Then with his own hands he let down by a rope a bag of burning sulphur and pitch, and stunk them out.
1880. Brit. Med. Jrnl., 7 Aug., 207/2. Treatment … to stink the [Guinea] worm out.
5. To cause to stink.
a. 1300. Sat. People Kildare, xiv. in E. E. P. (1862), 155. Daþeit ȝur curteisie, ȝe stinkeþ al þe strete.
1733. W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 294. If its Leaf or Seed is rubbed, it will stink the Hands for four or five Hours.
1896. Flora A. Steel, Face of Waters, I. vi. (1903), 63. One dead fish stinks a whole tank.
6. Comb. in phr. used subst., as Stink-alive, the bib or pout, Gadus luscus.
1863. J. G. Wood, Illustr. Nat. Hist., III. 306. The Pout is graphically termed by the fishermen the Stinkalive, because it becomes putrid so soon after death.
