▪ I. stench, n.
(stɛnʃ)
Forms: α. 1 stenc, stengc, 3–6 stenche, 3, 4, 6– stench. β. 6 staunch, 7–8 stanch. γ. 2–4 stunch(e, 3 Orm. stinnch, 4, 5–7 stinche, 5–8 stinch, 4–6 stynch(e, (6 stintch, styntche).
[The α and β forms represent OE. stęnc masc. = OS. stanc (LG., Du. stank; Sw., Da. stank from LG.), OHG. stanch (MHG. stanc, mod.G. stank):—OTeut. types *stankwi-z, -kwo-z, f. *staŋkw- ablaut-var. of *stiŋkw- stink v. The γ forms are morphologically a distinct word, repr. OE. *stync = OS. stunc masc.:—OTeut. type *stuŋkwi-z, f. the weak-grade of the same root.]
† 1. An odour, a smell (pleasant or unpleasant); also, the sense of smell. OE. only (very common).
| a 900 Bæda's Hist. iii. viii. (1890) 174 Swa micel swetnisse stenc. 971 Blickl. Hom. 59 Þa swetan stencas ᵹestincað þara wuduwyrta. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 372/26 Ða fif andᵹitu ures lichaman þæt sind ᵹesihð, hlyst, swæcc, stenc, hrepung. |
2. A foul, disgusting, or noisome smell, a disagreeable or offensive odour, a stink.
| α c 893 ælfred Oros. v. 226 Eall forwearð..for þæm stence. a 900 Bæda's Hist. i. xiii. (1890) 48 Se wolberenda stenc þære lyfte. a 1225 St. Marher. 11 His fule stench. a 1240 Ureisun in Cott. Hom. 193 Þer ne schulen heo neuer karien ne swinken, Ne weopen ne murnen ne helle stenches stinken. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 119 Wormes come out of his body, and þe stenche of hym greved all þe oost. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 11 Anon þys fende vanechet away wyth an horrybull stenche. 1491 Chast. Goddes Chyld. 18 Wyckid sauours and fowle stenches. 1591 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. v. 23 So..Doues with noysome stench, Are from their..Houses driuen away. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 836 Nor cou'd Vulcanian Flame The Stench abolish, or the Savour tame. 1735 Somerville Chase iii. 158 Plunging he wades besmear'd, and fondly hopes In a superior Stench to lose his own. 1828 Coleridge Cologne 4 In Köhln..I counted two and seventy stenches, All well defined, and several stinks! 1841 Dickens Barn. Rudge lx, The air was perfumed with the stench of rotten leaves and faded fruit. 1883 Stevenson Treas. Isl. xvi, The nasty stench of the place turned me sick. |
| β 1652 French Yorksh. Spa xiv. 104, I shall the better make to appear the Cause of its stanch and bitterness. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xlix. 190 The great stanch which proceeded from these dead bodies. a 1653 Gouge Comm. Heb. ix. 19 The cleer sun is noysome to dunghils..by reason of the stanch in the dunghil. a 1711 Ken Urania Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 473 Fear not the stanch nice Sense may meet. |
| γ c 1200 Ormin 1209 Sinness fule stinnch. a 1225 Ancr. R. 216, & he schal bidon ham & pinen ham mid eche stunche iðe pine of helle. c 1290 Brendan 491 in S. Eng. Leg. 233 Strong was þe stunch and þe smoke. 1422 Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. xlv. 208 By the noosthurles we haue knowlech of odeurs and stynches. 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 70 Stinch is a Vapour..Of things which of Evill Complexions be. c 1585 [R. Browne] Answ. Cartwright 6, I maruaile howe his penne coulde droppe downe such poyson, and he not smell the stinch thereof as he wrote it. 1643 Baker Chron., Hen. I, 60 His Physitian that tooke out his braines, with the intolerable stinch shortly after died. 1765 J. Brown Chr. Jrnl. 226 My candle is near wasted... Now extinguished, it goes out with a stinch. |
3. without article. Evil-smelling quality or property, offensive odour, stink.
| α c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 167 Þo ne mihte no man for stenche cumen him enden. a 1225 Ancr. R. 216 Stench stihð uppard. 1340 Ayenb. 248 Huerof ne may go out bote uelþe and stench. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xix. xl. (1495) 884 Stenche may be so stronge that it may be cause of soden deth. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. xi. 13 That all the ayre about with smoke and stench did fill. 1697 Dryden æneis viii. 638 Till choak'd with Stench..The ling'ring Wretches pin'd away, and dy'd. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters III. 317 Acids cause neither stench nor precipitation in the above solution. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 652 In the dungeon below all was darkness, stench, lamentation, disease and death. 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities i. v, A narrow winding street, full of offence and stench. |
| β 1592 Daniel Epitaphium Wks. (Grosart) I. 80 Fayre Rosamond..Who whilome sweetest smelt..Doth nowe w{supt}{suph} deadly staunch infest ye nose. |
| γ c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 43 Þe siste [uþe wes] smorð er þe seofeþe ful stunch. c 1300 Beket (Percy Soc.) 2306 Hit stonk so foule..That unethe myȝte eni man for stinche [S.E. Leg. line 2386 stunche] neȝ him beo. 13.. Minor Poems of Vernon MS. xxxvii. 970 Foul he stonk as stunch of helle. c 1440 Jacob's Well 147 Eueremore he brast out horryble stynch. c 1530 Judic. Urines ii. xii. 40 W{supt} stynche or els w{supt} euyll sauor at y⊇ nose. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abuses (1877) 42 But inwardly is full of all stinche and lothsomnes. 1646 Earl of Monmouth tr. Biondi's Civil Warres ix. 227 From Filth and Mire, nothing but Pollution and Stinch can be expected. |
4. Something that smells offensively.
| 1595 Shakes. John iii. iv. 26 Thou odoriferous stench, sound rottennesse. 1909 Edin. Rev. Oct. 292 Brayton has long been a stench in the nostrils of all decent citizens. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
stench-charged,
stench-involved adjs.;
stench-pipe, an extension of a soil-pipe to a point above the roof of a house, to allow foul gases to escape;
stench-trap, a device in a drain, etc. to prevent the upward passage of noxious gas; a stink-trap.
| 1899 Daily News 28 Dec. 6/3 A noisome loft, *stench-charged and drenched with moisture from the rotten..thatch. |
| 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 1204 A proud city..convulsive hurled Sheer from the black foundation, *stench-involved, Into a gulf of blue sulphureous flame. |
| 1891 Rutland Gloss. s.v. Crookle, What you want is *stench-pipes. You run 'em up as high as your chimney, and they'll be no eyesore. |
| 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1803 The whole to enter into one drain in each area, where a proper *stench-trap and grate are to be formed. |
▪ II. stench, v. (
stɛnʃ)
Also 6–7
stinch(e, 7
stanch.
[OE. stęncan (Northumbrian):—prehistoric *staŋkwjan, f. *staŋkwi-z stench n. In the 16th c. (sense 2) prob. a new formation on the n.] 1. intr. To have an ill smell, to stink.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John xi. 39 Uutudlice stenceð [Vulg. fetet]. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 8401 Þe smoke þer of ssolde boþe stenche & blende. 1570 Levins Manip. 134/36 To stinche, fœtere. |
2. trans. To cause to emit a stench, to make to stink, to render offensive. Also with
up. ?
Obs.| 1577 Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. 163 b, The Goose..stencheth the ground with her vnprofitable..dounging. 1596 Harington Apol. Aa 7 b, This same companie hath so stencht vp his house, that he must be forced to lye at London tyll his house be made sweeter. a 1631 Donne Serm. (1649) II. 203 But after a Goose that stanches the grasse they [sc. sheep] will not [feed]. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Healths Improv. iii. 13 Is not Middleborough, Roterdam, Delf,..stinched every dry Autumn with infinite swarms of dead frogs, putrifying the aire worse then carrion? 1707 Mortimer Husb. 227 'Tis the foulness of the Ponds only that stencheth the Water. 1762 Young Resign. i. 96 Dead Bards stench every Coast. 1801 Farmer's Mag. Nov. 371 Taking the sheep off their feed to lodge in the night, we think of great use, as it prevents dropping their soil on the pasture (what our shepherds here term stenching their food). 1838 Hood To Mr. Izaac Walton 10 ‘How dare you,’ says I, ‘for to stench the whole house by keeping that stinking liver?’ |
3. To subject to stenches.
| 1824 Blackw. Mag. XV. 473 The fullest impression that could be purchased by our being parched, passported,..starved and stenched, for 1200 miles. |
Hence
ˈstenching ppl. a.| 1654 Z. Coke Logick 37 Smel. Simple. Sweet or Stinching. 1694 Motteux Rabelais iv. l, As if..some divine Vertue could lye hid in a stenching ulcerated rotten Shank. 1905 Dundee Advertiser 1 Mar. 8 The villages are vile and stenching. |
▪ III. stench obs. form of
stanch v.,
staunch a.
| 1659 Lady Alimony iii. iii. F 4 b, And if thou canst not live so stench But thou must needs enjoy thy Wench. |