▪ I. stinking, vbl. n.
(ˈstɪŋkɪŋ)
[-ing1.]
The action of the verb stink; an instance of this.
| a 1320 Sir Tristr. 1177 No man miȝt bi him stand For stinking of his wounde. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 302 in Babees Bk., Þy tethe be not pikynge,..ne stynkynge of brethe on youre souerayne castynge. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 43 The waters dividing the streetes, slowly or not at all moved, are in this City..subject to stinking. 1822 Shelley Scenes fr. Faust ii. 213 What glimmering, spurting, stinking, burning. |
▪ II. stinking, ppl. a. (
ˈstɪŋkɪŋ)
[-ing2.] 1. a. 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 {cross}{cross} j b, Thy grace lorde,..defende me fro the stynkynge aungell and the spyryte of pestylence. 1604 Jas. I Counterbl. 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. 1908 C. Bigg Orig. Chr. 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 M. Calderwood in Coltness Collect. (Maitl. Club) 117, I think she is a pert, stinking-like husy. |
b. said of an odour.
| 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 B. 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’. |
e. As an intensifier: ‘offensively’, in
stinking drunk,
stinking rich (somewhat
derog.); also
absol. and
const. with, having too much (money, etc.).
Cf. sense 2 b of the
vb. colloq.| 1887 Lantern (New Orleans) 12 Feb. 3/1 Dey had four bottles er booze and got stinkin' 'fore two o'clock. 1926 L. H. Nason Chevrons iii. 96 He went off and got stinking drunk. 1934 E. Waugh Handful of Dust iii. 115 ‘Tight that night.’ ‘Stinking.’ 1940 E. Pound Cantos lvi. 62 Sangko stinking with graft. 1945 E. S. Gardner Case of Golddigger's Purse ii. 9 Not only is he rich but he's stinking rich. 1956 A. Christie Dead Man's Folly ii. 27 Stinking with money—absolutely stinking! 1965 New Statesman 19 Mar. 462/2 The father meets old cronies and gets stinking drunk. 1978 N. Marsh Grave Mistake iv. 111 She was in affluent circumstances, stinking rich in fact. 1980 D. Bogarde Gentle Occupation i. 22 The only thing to do is to get absolutely stinking... It was the best thing in the world for despair: a good skin-full. |
2. a. Special collocations:
stinking badger = teledu (Cassell 1888);
stinking bird = stink-bird;
stinking bug = stink-bug (
stink n. 5);
stinking bunt = stinking smut (
Cent. Dict. 1891);
stinking coal dial. = stinker 4;
stinking fish, (
a) in allusion to the
phr. to cry stinking fish (sense 1 a): something worthless or rotten; (
b)
Ghana (see
quot. 1973);
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 J. 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. |
| 1935 E. R. Eddison Mistress vi. 98 Have I not proof of 's loyal mind within reason: his refusing on't when Lessingham did offer it? Nay, 'twas but *stinking fish then: 'twas under suzerainty. 1968 J. Abruquah Torrent ii. 29 You are treated nice when you are a stranger instead of having little bits of dried stinking fish and kenkey thrown at you. 1973 K. A. Sey Ghanaian Eng. vii. 90 Stinking fish, fish preserved with salt and used for seasoning ‘soups’ and ‘stews’. 1981 N. J. Crisp Festival xi. 260 Vincent Consel said to his editor, ‘I detect the faint aroma of stinking fish.’ |
| 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,
stinking hellebore,
stinking horehound,
stinking iris,
stinking maidweed (
stinking mayweed,
stinking maythe),
stinking motherwort,
stinking nightshade, for which see the
ns. 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 n. 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 Scot. II. 1132 Senecio Jacobea..The stinking weed. |
| 1793 J. Trapp tr. 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. |