[-ING2.]
1. That stinks; offensively smelling.
To cry stinking fish: see CRY v. 5 b.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 86. Him stod stincende steam of ðam muðe.
c. 1200. Ormin, 8195. To strawwenn gode gresess … Biforenn þatt stinnkennde lic.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1725), 177. Richard was hastif, & ansuerd þat stund, Certes þou lies cheitif, & as a stinkand hund.
a. 1400. Prymer (1895), 69. Lord, þat reisidist stynkynge lazar fro his graue, graunte hem reste!
1532. Psalter of Jesus, ☩☩ j b. Thy grace lorde,… defende me fro the stynkynge aungell and the spyryte of pestylence.
1604. Jas. I., Counterbl. to Tobacco (Arb.), 101. The loathsome, and hurtfull vse of this stinking Antidote.
1777. Robertson, Hist. Amer., IV. Wks. 1851, V. 348. A fire of stinking herbs is kindled underneath, so as he may … be involved in its smoke.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 601. Large stinking cholesteatomatous cavity in mastoid.
a. 1908. C. Bigg, Orig. Christianity, xiv. (1909), 178. Many other of the captives died in that sunless, stinking dungeon.
Comb. 1604. F. T., Case is Altered, C 3. Gagge toothed, slandering tongue, foh, stinking breathed.
1756. Mrs. Calderwood, in Coltness Collect. (Maitl. Club), 117. I think she is a pert, stinking-like husy.
b. said of an odor.
1611. Bible, Eccl. x. 1. Dead flies cause the oyntment of the Apothecarie to send foorth a stinking sauour.
1621. Lodge, Summary Du Bartas, I. 261. He yeeldeth a stinking smell.
c. Used as a vague epithet connoting intense disgust and contempt. Now only vulgar.
Very common in 14th–17th c.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 164. Auh hit, anonde meidelure, mei loosen his holinesse mid a stinkinde wil.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 101. Stynkynge pryde.
c. 1450. Mirour Saluacioun (Roxb.), 149. Wasshe me out of bandes of my stynking synne vile.
c. 1530. Songs, Carols, etc. (1907), 111. Thou stynkyng coward!
a. 1564. Becon, Supplic., Wks. III. 29 b. Banyshe out of the congregation that most vile & stincking Idol the Masse.
1684. Otway, Atheist, I. i. Where I … got no Meat, but such as the old Succubus his Wife bought at a stinking Price.
1710. Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), II. 351. A man of Parts, but a most vile, stinking Whigg.
1898. [see STINKER 1].
† d. quasi-adv. Obs. rare.
1589. Nashe, Martin Marprelate, Wks. (Grosart), I. 164. Their iests be so stinking stale, as you must holde your nose while you reade them.
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal (1673), 263. Half a silurus, which is now stinking-ripe.
Mod. Sc. (vulgar) I’d be stinkin’ fond (to do something) = ‘I should never think of it,’ ‘I should certainly not.’
2. Special collocations: stinking badger = TELEDU (Cassell, 1888); stinking bird = stink-bird; stinking bug = stink-bug (STINK sb. 5); stinking bunt = stinking smut (Cent. Dict., 1891); stinking coal dial. = STINKER 4; stinking ill, a disease of sheep; stinking pheasant = stink pheasant (Webster, 1911); stinking polecat, one of the skunks or Mustelidæ; stinking rust, smut, a fungoid disease of plants.
1862. in Veness, El Dorado (1866), App. 154. Eggs of Opisthocomus cristatus *Stinking-bird, or Canje Pheasant.
1815. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., viii. (1818), I. 231. Nothing can exceed the irritation caused by the *stinking bugs when they get into the hair or between the linen and the body.
1803. Plymley, Agric. Shropsh., 53. Brown rock, called the *stinking-coal rock.
1868. Parton, Shropsh. Coal-Field, 4. The Stinking Coal, is noted for containing a great proportion of sulphuret of iron.
a. 1807. A. Duncan, in Prize Ess. Highl. Soc., III. 364. On opening the body, it emits a strong sulphureous smell, characteristic of the disease; hence it is sometimes called the *stinking ill.
1791. Smellie, Buffon’s Nat. Hist., VII. 295. The Mouffettes, or *Stinking Polecats.
1861. Chamb. Encycl., II. 155/1. The disease in wheat … which is also called Smut-balls, Bunt, Pepper Brand, or *Stinking-Rust.
1891. Century Dict., s.v. Smut, The *stinking smut is caused by two species of fungus.
b. In many names of plants, as stinking camomile, hellebore, horehound, iris, maidweed (mayweed, maythe), motherwort, nightshade, for which see the sbs. Also stinking ash, box elder (Webster, 1911); stinking bean trefoil (see quot.); stinking Billy or Willie, the common ragwort, Senecio Jacobæa (Eng. Dial. Dict.); stinking Bob, herb Robert, Geranium Robertianum (ibid.); stinking cedar, any species of Torreya; stinking Christopher, various kinds of figwort, Scrophularia (E.D.D.); stinking crane’s bill (see quot.); stinking gladdon, Iris fœtidissima; stinking grass = stink grass, STINK sb. 5 (W. 1911); stinking gum, an Australian gum tree (Eucalyptus tereticornis) whose leaves have a strong cimicine smell (ibid.); stinking morel = STINK-HORN; stinking orach = stinking motherwort; stinking polecat = STINK-HORN; stinking Roger, Scrophularia and other plants (E.D.D.); † stinking tree = stink-tree (b); stinking trefoil = stinking bean trefoil; stinking weed, (a) Cassia occidentalis; (b) Senecio Jacobæa; stinking wood, a name for various trees the timber of which has a fetid smell, esp. Cassia occidentalis and Anagyris fœtida; stinking yew = stinking cedar.
1816. T. Green, Univ. Herbal, I. 94/1. Anagyris Fœtida, *Stinking Bean Trefoil,… grows wild in France, Spain, [etc.].
1866. Treas. Bot., s.v. Cedar, *Stinking Cedar, Torreya taxifolia.
1857. Anne Pratt, Flower. Pl., II. 40. Geranium Robertianum (*Stinking Crane’s-bill or Herb Robert).
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, I. xxxvii. 53. *Stinking Gladdon hath long narrow leaues like Iris, but smaller.
1670. Ray, Catal. Plant. Angl., 84. Cotula fœtida…. *Stinking Mayweed or Maithes.
1777. J. Lightfoot, Flora Scotica, II. 1044. Phallus impudicus … *Stinking Morel.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. xlii. 258. *Stinking Orach is called of Cordus Garosmus, bicause it smelleth like stinking fish.
1874. Treas. Bot., Suppl. 1344/2. *Stinking Polecat, Phallus impudicus.
1681. Grew, Musæum, II. § i. i. 180. Part of an Arm of the *Stinking-Tree.
1548. Turner, Names Herbes, 12. Anagyris … maye be called *stynkynge trifoly in englishe, or beane tree.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica, 224. *Stinking weed. This plant is very common about Kingston.
1777. J. Lightfoot, Flora Scotica, II. 1132. Senecio Jacobæa.… The stinking weed.
1793. J. Trapp, trans. Rochon’s Voy. Madagascar, Prelim. Disc. p. xxviii. Tacamacca, *stinking-wood, and ever so many other valuable trees.
1862. E. Balfour, Timber Trees India, etc. 77. Chee Neb Burm. Stinking Wood. Eng.
1866. Treas. Bot., Torreya, a genus of Taxaceæ, to which the name of *Stinking Yews has been given.
