▪ I. reek, n.1
(riːk)
Forms: α. 1 réc, 3–7 reke, 4 rek, rike, 4 Sc., 5 reyk, 4–6 Sc. reik, 6–7 reeke, 7 reake, 7, 9 Sc. reak, (8 wreak), 9 north. dial. rik, rick, 5– reek. β. 4–5 (9 dial.) reech, 4–5 reche, 5 rich.
[Comm. Teut.: OE. réc = OFris. rek, reek, OS. rôk (MDu. rooc, Du. rook), OHG. rouh (MHG. rouch, G. rauch), ON. reykr (Sw. rök, Da. rög):—OTeut. *rauki-z, from a stem reuk-, rouk- (cf. reek v.1), app. not found outside of Teutonic. As the word has chiefly survived in northern use the palatalized form reech is comparatively rare.]
1. Smoke from burning matter. (Still the general word in Sc. and north. dial.; in standard Eng. only in literary use, and chiefly applied to dense or unctuous smoke.)
| α c 825 Vesp. Psalter xvii[i]. 9 Astaᵹ rec in eorre his. a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 325 (Gr.) [Hi] þoliað..brand & brade liᵹas, swilce eac þa biteran recas. a 1300 Cursor M. 3105 It brend, þe reke raght vp euen. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 9431 Þair throtes sal ay be filled..Of lowe and reke. 1375 Barbour Bruce iv. 130 The fyre out syne in blasis brast, And the reik rais richt vounder fast. c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 81 With sandell confyt ennoynt his body, reekyd with reek of ensens. 1466 Paston Lett. II. 268 To the glaser for takyn owte of ii. panys of the wyndows..for to late owte the reke of the torches. ? 1531 Frith Answ. Rochester Wks. 56/2, I shall offer vnto thee fat sacrifices with the reke of wethers. a 1572 Knox Hist. Ref. Wks. 1846 I. 42 For the reik of Maister Patrik Hammyltoun hes infected as many as it blew upoun. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iii. iii. 86 As hatefull to me as the reeke of a Lime-kill. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Praise Clean Linen Wks. ii. 169/1 The suddes vnto the Sea I may compare, The Reake or smocke, the wind. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. vii. 21 The diffused reek of the things sacrificed. 1703 T. N. City & C. Purchaser 47 The Reek which ascends out on the top of the Kiln. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. v. ii. Prol., The rising sun shines motty throw the reek. 1821 Scott Pirate xi, The reek that's rising out of yon lums. 1864 G. W. Dasent Jest & Earnest (1873) I. 43 The miner makes a little explosion.., which fills the air..with a sulphurous reek. 1895 Crockett Men of Moss-Hags xli. 292 The whole interior was full of the smoor of reek. |
| β 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1009 Suche a roþun of a reche ros fro þe blake, Askez vpe in þe ayre & vsellez þer flowen. a 1425 Cursor M. 3105 (Trin.), Hit brent; reche roos vp ful euen. 1879 Waugh Chimney Corner 251 There's bin nought nobbut reech (smoke) an' rain sin I coom. |
b. In comparisons, with reference to the lightness or other qualities of smoke.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter xxxvi[i]. 20 Aspringende swe swe rec. c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) lxvii. 2 Rece hi ᵹelicast ricene geteoriað. a 1300 Cursor M. 26994 Quat es mans lijf bot fam, And a rek þat mai noght last. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxii. (Justin) 442 He had na langare mycht to byde bot fled as reke & can hym hyde. 1513 Douglas æneis v. xii. 138 Thus has he said; and..Vanist away, as the reik in the air. 1858 M. Porteous ‘Souter Johnny’ 8 But sic pretension I, like reek will puff aside. |
c. fig. in various applications.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 2744 Þe word es wers þan man mai neuen; Þe reke [Trin. MS. reech] es raght vn-to þe heuen. c 1440 York Myst. xxvi. 34 Thurgh his romour in þis reme Hath raysede mekill reke. 1529 Lyndesay Compl. 367 Than rais ane reik, or euer I wyste, The quhilk gart all thare bandis bryste. |
d. transf. A house, as having a fire burning in it (cf. 5 and hearth1 2).
| 1626 Act. 31 in Barry Orkney App. ix. (1805) 469 What⁓ever persone shall slay the earn or eagle shall have..8d. from every reik within the parochine. 1822 Hibbert Descr. Shetl. Isl. 321 To feed these birds a hen was demanded from every house; or (as it is called) from every reek. |
2. Vapour or steam arising from, or given off by, something in a moist or heated state, as wet or marshy ground (hence also Sc., fog or mist), wet clothes, boiling water, etc.
| c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 79 Whenn þe erthe ys clene with-oute roche, and with-oute reke, þe water of þat stede ys light. c 1400 Sege Jerus. 790 Þe wedes dropeden doun, d[r]yed ȝerne, Rich rises hem fro. 1607 Shakes. Cor. iii. iii. 121 Curs, whose breath I hate, As reeke a'th rotten Fennes. 1685 Boyle Salubr. Air 22 He found the Reeks ascending from them into the Air..make him as it were Asthmatical. 1696 Bp. Patrick Comm. Exod. iv. (1697) 63 He added these words..I am a reek from a pot. 1843 Borrow Bible in Spain II. viii. 149 They lay immersed in the tepid waters..overhung with steam and reek. 1879 Browning Ned Bratts 17 Like threshers, one and all, Of a reek with laying down the law in a furnace. |
| fig. 1681 J. Scott Chr. Life iv. (1684) 287 Melancholy..overwhelms the Fancy with black Reeks and Vapours. 1819 Shelley Cenci v. iii, That eternal honour which should live Sun-like, above the reek of mortal fame. 1856 G. H. Boker Poems (1857) II. 96 My heart boils sometimes, and the reek is death To such as stir it. |
b. spec. The vapour given off by hops in drying.
| 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 401 The instantaneous abstraction of the ‘reek’, which maintains the best colour [in the hops]. 1881 Whitehead Hops 64 A current of air, heated by the fire below, is passed perpetually thro' the green hops in the upper floor, and their ‘reek’ is carried quickly off. |
c. Haziness, indistinctness. rare.
| 1876 R. F. Burton Gorilla L. II. 201 The most delicate sharpness and purity of outline took the place of meridian reek and blur. |
3. An exhalation; a fume emanating from some body or substance; in mod. use, a strong and disagreeable fume or smell.
| 1659 H. More Immort. Soul iii. ii. §7 That our Substance is in a manner lost, and nothing but a tenuious reek remains. 1674 N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 182 It shall be or may be alwayes body,..sending forth and taking in of steams and reeks, even all along. 1685 Boyle Enq. Notion Nat. 320 The closeness of the Place, or the over charging of the Air with the fuliginous Reeks of Mens Bodies. 1871 Dixon Tower IV. xxxi. 330 A reek of gin and powder filled the chamber. 1886 All Year Round 4 Sept. 103 From the engine-room hatch there came up a reek of oil. |
| fig. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 49 Nor does Dryden's lewdness leave such a reek in the mind as the filthy cynicism of Swift. |
b. Impure, fetid atmosphere.
| 1873 Dixon Two Queens II. xi. vii. 260 Amid the reek and squalor of a Spanish hamlet. 1891 E. Gosse Gossip in Library iv. 52 The sweet, pure meadows lie just outside the reek of Southwark. |
4. Applied to fine dust or snow in motion, having the appearance of smoke or steam.
| 1854 Dickens Hard T. ii. xi, The reek of her own tread in the thick dust that felt like velvet. 1894 Blackmore Perlycross 270 The shattered roof yawning to the reek of the snow-slides. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as † reek-fowl or -hen, an ancient Scottish tax of a hen paid annually by each householder on an estate; reek penny, north. a tax paid to the clergy by each house in the parish; † reek-poultry = reek-fowl.
| 1592 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1814) III. 607 Togidder w{supt} the haill teynd wictuall..*reikfowlis custumes and vtheris dewties quhatsumeuir. |
| 1567 Sc. Acts Mary (1814) II. 556 Duodecem lie *reik hennis. 1795 Statist. Acc. Scotl. XV. 451 The cotters and sub-tenants pay..a reek hen, and one day's shearing in harvest. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xix. (1873) 114 It had been the practice..to bind every tenant to pay yearly to the laird a ‘reek hen’. |
| 1255 Memorandum Sherburn Hospital, Bishopton No. 4 (MS.), De *Rekepeni v sol. 1351–2 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 552, xiijs. iiijd. de Rekepenys parochiarum de Jarowe et Wermouthe. 1735 Visitation of Chollerton in Hodgson Northumbld. County Hist. (1897) IV. 270 All tithes and Easter offerings (except reek penny and communicants). 1832 Hodgson Northumbld. ii. II. 356 note, The [Christmas] offering here [Bedlington] for communicants..is three-halfpence each; each family also pays one penny, under the name of smoke or reek penny. |
| 1585 Charter (Jam.), Decem capones..cum lie *reik pultreis solitis. c 1592 Registr. Arbroath (Bann. Club) II. App. p. xxxvii, With the reik pultreis vseit and wount. |
▪ II. † reek, n.2 Obs.
Forms: 6 reke, reek(e, reake, 7 reike, riek.
[Of obscure origin: perh. an alteration of reit.]
1. collect. Water-plants, seaweed.
| 1555 Eden Decades 55 Amonge the reke or weedes of the maryshes, they espyed a multitude of wylde bores. 1567 Golding Ovid's Met. xiv. (1593) 324 First trees shall grow..in the sea, and reeke shall thrive On tops of hilles. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 445 Sea-weeds or Reike, rushes and reeds growing vpon the washes and meers. |
2. With pl. A water-plant, a seaweed.
| 1566 Drant Horace, Sat. ii. iv. G viij b, The bore is yll in Laurente soyle, that feedes on reakes and reeds. 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Alga marina, reeks or sea weede. |
▪ III. reek
obs. form of rick n.
▪ IV. reek, v.1
(riːk)
Forms: 3–6 reke, 5–7 Sc. reik, 6 rik-, 6–7 reake, reeke, 6–8 reak, (8 wreak), 7, 9 dial. reech, 6– reek.
[Comm. Teut.: OE. réocan (north. réca: see also sense 5) = OFris. riaka, reka, OLG. riecan (MDu. and Du. rieken; also MDu. rûken, Du. ruiken), OHG. riohhan (G. riechen), ON. rj{uacu}ka (Sw. röka, Da. ryge):—OTeut. *riukan (see reek n.1). G. riechen and Du. rieken, ruiken now mean only ‘to smell’, the orig. sense being expressed by the new formations rauchen and rooken.]
1. intr. To emit smoke: a. of something burning.
| c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) ciii. [civ.] 30 ᵹif he mid his mihte muntas hrineð, hi ful ricene reocað sona. 1300 E.E. Psalter cxliii[i]. 5 Laverd..Negh hilles, and reke þai salle. 1483 Cath. Angl. 302/2 To Reke, fumare. 1513 Douglas æneis ii. xi. 34 Thair followis a streme of fire,..Quhill all enveron rekit like brintstane. 1585 Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 72 Earth dois tremble, mountains reikis, afraid. 1617 Sir W. Mure Misc. Poems xxi. 78 With Iberian fyres the Alpes doe reik. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 124 The only Structure standing in the Town, it..was then reaking in its Ashes. 1830 Scott Demonol. x. 368 Not long after the civil war, the embers of which were still reeking. 1846 Keble Lyra Innoc. (1873) 149 While temples crash, and towers in ashes reek. |
b. of a building, chimney, etc. Also transf.
Also common in dial. use of a chimney which ‘smokes’, i.e. sends out smoke into the room or house.
| c 1420 Avow. Arth. xv, Alle wroth wex that sqwyne,..As kylne other kechine, Thus rudely he rekes. c 1500 Felon Sewe of Rokeby ix, The kilne began to reeke. 1572 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxvi. 115 In the craft expert, And þerby garis ȝour kitchingis daylie reik. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Sept. 117 Fewe chymneis reeking you shall espye. 1625 Lisle Du Bartas, Noe 132 And shall I never see my country chimnies reake? 1795 Macneill Will & Jean xxi, White the wa's, wi' roof new theeckit,..Lown 'mang trees and braes it reekit. 1820 Scott Abbot xxxiv, Observing that the chimney of the kitchen had reeked that whole day in a manner which contradicted the supposition [of famine]. |
2. To emit hot vapour or steam; to smoke with heat; to exhale vapour (or fog). Now chiefly dial. a. of hot liquids, food, etc., and of moist things under the influence of heat, or when warmer than the atmosphere.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 18 Wel on wætere; læt reocan on þa eaᵹan þonne hit hat sie. 1538 Leland Itin. (1768) II. 66 The Water of the Baynes..rikith like a sething Potte continually. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 21 With some vpon Sundaies, their tables doe reeke. a 1635 Corbet Poems (1807) 138 Your cold meate comes in reaking, and your wine Is all burnt sack. 1658 tr. Porta's Nat. Magic v. iii. 168 When the fume..is exhaled from them, that they have left reaking, make a powder of them. 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. Ded. vi, The tea's fill'd reeking round. 1742 Lond. & Country Brew. i. (ed. 4) 3 In the Warmth of Well Waters, that are often seen to wreak in the cold Seasons. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 133 The most severe cold..is so piercing in February and March, that..the sea reeks like an oven. 1889 N.-W. Linc. Gloss. (ed. 2) s.v., When fog arises the land is said to reek. |
b. of persons and animals in a heated and perspiring state.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 114 He ran in a fyrryd gowen, he cast of alle hys clothys, alle his body gan reke. 1530 Palsgr. 684/1 I reke, as a horse dothe that is laboured. Je fume. a 1599 Spenser F.Q. vii. vii. 40 His browes with sweat did reek and steem. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. i. ii. 2 The Violence of Action hath made you reek as a Sacrifice. 1706 E. Ward Wooden World Diss. (1708) 84 His Phiz is everlastingly reaking with Sweat and Grease. 1790 Burns Tam o' Shanter 148 They reel'd, they set, they cross'd, they cleekit, Till ilka carlin swat and reekit. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. vi. 39 Sam appeared..with Haley's horse by his side, reeking with sweat. |
| transf. 1616 R. C. Times Whistle i. 433 Six dayes in the weeke Are not sufficient, but the seventh must reeke With sweat of their vngodly labour. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 319 It is ill for a soul to go reeking with anger out of this world. |
c. of blood freshly shed, or of things smeared with this. (Also of the air, etc.) Const. with, † in.
| 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 1377 The red bloud reek'd to shew the Painter's strife. 1601 ― Jul. C. iii. i. 158 Now, whil'st your purpled hands do reeke and smoake, Fulfill your pleasure. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xi. §252 Whilst these perfidious wretches had their hands still reeking in the precious blood of their sovereign. 1733 Pope Ess. Man iii. 265 Altars grew marble then, and reek'd with gore. 1785 G. A. Bellamy Apology (ed. 3) II. 74 Plunging the same weapon, which was reeking with the blood of her favourite boy, into her own bosom. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. i. xxx, Till gallant Cessford's heart-blood dear Reek'd on dark Elliot's Border spear. a 1892 Tennyson Bandit's Death v, For he reek'd with the blood of Piero. |
3. To emit an unwholesome or disagreeable vapour or fume; hence, to smell strongly and unpleasantly; to stink. Chiefly const. of, with.
| 1710 Swift Jrnl. to Stella v, I was forced to go to a blind chop-house,..and then go reeking from thence to the First Minister of State. 1752 Foote Taste i. i, Two Domitians reaking from the Dunghill. 1798 Coleridge Anc. Mar. iv. viii, The cold sweat melted from their limbs, Nor rot nor reek did they. 1838 Dickens Nich. Nick. xvi, The small apartments reek with the breath of deputations and delegates. 1881 W. H. Mallock Rom. 19th Cent. I. 140 She literally reeked of garlic. 1888 A. K. Green Behind Closed Doors vii, I found a broken phial reeking with the smell of bitter almonds. |
b. transf. or fig.
| 1679 Owen Christol. xvii. (1851) I. 223 God will not take us into heaven..with our heads and hearts reeking with the thoughts and affections of earthly things. 1772 Fletcher Logica Genev. 92 Do you not plunge it in muddy stygian waters till it..reeks with poisonous error? 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. p. xxx, Reeking from the filthy communion of crime. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 455 The vicinity of the great Temple at Ephesus reeked with the congregated pollutions of Asia. 1961 Newark Evening News 21 Nov. 12 The day before Election Day, to which we are entitled as a legal holiday, we were informed to report to our respective polls to work as ‘workers of the party’... Such tactics reek of totalitarianism! 1969 Listener 3 Apr. 467/3 The plot fairly reeks of the confessional. |
† 4. Of smoke, vapour, perfume, etc.: To be emitted or exhaled; to rise, emanate. Obs.
| c 1325 Metr. Hom. 97 For rekeles rekes upward evin, And menskis him that wonis in hevin. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2612 Hypermnestra, Thencence out of the fire reketh sote. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. viii. 131 The blak laithly smuke that oft did rise..rekand as the pyk. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 96 Perfume beeyng poured vpon the hedde, reketh out into the aier. 1563 Winȝet tr. Vincent. Lirin. Wks. (S.T.S.) II. 64 Thai knaw thair stink to na man almaist..to be plesand, gif it stewit and reikit out naikit and plane. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. cxxx, In some perfumes is there more delight Then in the breath that from my Mistres reekes. |
| fig. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. 79 If you come to him in a hotte sommers day, you shal se his honestye in such sort to reeke [etc.]. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 140, I heard your guilty Rimes,..Saw sighes reeke from you. 1599 ― Hen. V, iv. iii. 101 The Sun shall greet them, And draw their honors reeking vp to Heauen. |
b. Of snow: To whirl in fine particles like smoke or vapour.
| 1828 Carr Craven Gloss. s.v., ‘It reeks and blaws’, that is, the snow is driven with such violence as to resemble smoke. 1837 R. Mudie Spring 266 The snow still darkens the air, and reeks along the curling wreaths, as if each were a furnace. |
5. trans. To expose to smoke; to dry or taint with smoke; to fumigate. Also techn., to coat (moulds for steel) with soot.
The OE. trans. récan is distinct from the intr. réocan.
| a 1000 Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 244/36 Fumarat, reohte. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 346 Þæs ylcan drinces smyc heora eaᵹan onfon & mid þam broþe recen. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 29 Þen reke hem on þe colys tyl þey ben tendyr. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxxiv. 57 Ane browstar swoir the malt wes ill, Bath reid and reikit on the kill. 1611 Cotgr., Soré, reeked, made red or sorrell, as a Herring by the smoake. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. & Min. 220 The sides may be pickled, and the chine broiled or fried. Some reech them. [1864 Cockayne Sax. Leechd. I. 347 Let them receive with their eyes the smoke..and reek them with the broth.] 1884 W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron xviii. 423 Emitting large quantities of unconsumed carbon, which is deposited upon the surface of the moulds. After the halves are so coated or reeked, they are fitted together. |
| fig. 1868 Bushnell Serm. Living Subj. 188 They are reeking themselves in all kinds of disorder bodily and mental. |
6. To emit (smoke, steam, etc.). Chiefly fig.
| 1598 R. Haydocke tr. Lomazzo ii. 11 Alexander the Great..was seene to reake forth from his bodie fier and light. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. v. ii, Swart Pieros lips reake steame of wine. 1641 Milton Reform. i. Wks. 1851 III. 10 Our Ministers,..like a seething pot set to coole, sensibly exhale and reake out the greatest part of that zeale. 1867 Macgregor Voy. Alone (1868) 68 A great human sink reeking out crime, disease, and disloyalty on the whole nation. |
7. To cause (a place) to smell of blood.
| 1880 L. Wallace Ben-Hur viii. v. 503 The slaughter of lambs in offering reeked the fore-courts of the Temple. |
Hence reeked (riːkt, Sc. ˈrikɪt), ppl. a., smoked.
| 1785–6 Burns Address to Deil xvii, Wi' reekit duds, an' reestit gizz. 1792 ― Kellyburn Braes x, A reekit wee deevil looks over the wa'. 1832 J. Cole Scarborough Guide 109 A delicious relish for the breakfast table,..called Reek'd Haddocks. |
▪ V. reek, v.2 Sc.
Also 8 reick.
[Of obscure origin: connexion with reek reach v. or reke v. is not clear.]
trans. (and intr.) To fit or rig out († also with forth). Hence ˈreeking vbl. n.2
Sometimes used without the adv.: see the Eng. Dial. Dict.
| 1590 Jas. VI in R. Bruce's Life (1843) 20 The reeking out of three or four ships to meet me here and convey me home. 1591 R. Bruce Serm. (1843) 296 His great army quhilk was so long in reeking forth. 1676 Row Contn. Blair's Autobiog. (1848) 509 The King could not get his navy so soon reeked out. 1715 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 113 Some were taken by some passage-boats that were reicked out [equipped] by way of privateers from Leith harbour. 1798 D. Crawford Poems 20 Had I but siller I cou'd spare, To reek me out and pay my lare. a 1800 in J. Maidment N. Cy. Garland (1824) 50 Dinna ye mind..How we a' reek'd out, an' a' to Shirramuir? |
▪ VI. reek, v.3 Now dial.
Also 7 reeke.
[app. f. reek, var. rick n.]
trans. To pile up.
| 1693 Brownlow Entries 145 Ad fodiendum scindendum (Anglice hew)..cumulandum (Anglice reeke). 1780 Young Tour Irel. i. 262 Women 3{supd}. and 4{supd}. a day in reeking corn. 1886 S.-W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., The snow was that reek'd up. |
▪ VII. † reek, v.4 Obs. rare—0.
(See quot.)
| 1674–91 Ray N.C. Words s.v., His sickness will reek him, that is so wast him as to kill him. |
▪ VIII. reek
Sc. variant of reach v.1