Library / English Dictionary

REEK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A distinctive odor that is offensively unpleasant

Synonyms:

fetor; foetor; malodor; malodour; mephitis; reek; stench; stink

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("reek" is a kind of...):

odor; odour; olfactory perception; olfactory sensation; smell (the sensation that results when olfactory receptors in the nose are stimulated by particular chemicals in gaseous form)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "reek"):

niff; pong (an unpleasant smell)

Derivation:

reek (smell badly and offensively)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Be wet with sweat or blood, as of one's face

Synonyms:

fume; reek

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "reek" is one way to...):

exudate; exude; ooze; ooze out; transude (release (a liquid) in drops or small quantities)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Smell badly and offensively

Example:

The building reeks of smoke

Synonyms:

reek; stink

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "reek" is one way to...):

smell (smell bad)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

reek (a distinctive odor that is offensively unpleasant)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Have an element suggestive (of something)

Example:

this passage smells of plagiarism

Synonyms:

reek; smack; smell

Classified under:

Verbs of seeing, hearing, feeling

Hypernyms (to "reek" is one way to...):

evoke; paint a picture; suggest (call to mind)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Give off smoke, fumes, warm vapour, steam, etc.

Example:

Marshes reeking in the sun

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Hypernyms (to "reek" is one way to...):

emit; give off; give out (give off, send forth, or discharge; as of light, heat, or radiation, vapor, etc.)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Credits

 Context examples: 

I could see that the Professor had carried out in this room, as in the other, his purpose of using the garlic; the whole of the window-sashes reeked with it, and round Lucy's neck, over the silk handkerchief which Van Helsing made her keep on, was a rough chaplet of the same odorous flowers.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Alleyne could see the smoke of their forges reeking up in the clear morning air.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In rapid succession we passed through the fringe of fashionable London, hotel London, theatrical London, literary London, commercial London, and, finally, maritime London, till we came to a riverside city of a hundred thousand souls, where the tenement houses swelter and reek with the outcasts of Europe.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A thousand columns of smoke reeked up into the pure morning air where the faggots were piled and the camp-kettles already simmering.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The first faint winter’s dawn was beginning to appear, and we could dimly see the occasional figure of an early workman as he passed us, blurred and indistinct in the opalescent London reek.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Cast on another culpon, John, and stir the broth with thy sword-sheath,” growled Johnston, looking anxiously for the twentieth time at the reeking pot.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A crowd of white-faced sewers and pages swarmed at their heels, those behind pushing forwards, while the foremost shrank back from the fierce faces and reeking weapons of the adventurers.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Here is one!” said the leader, springing down from his reeking horse, and seizing the white rogue by the edge of his jerkin.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The narrow pass was blocked by huge stones littered in wild confusion over each other, with the blue choking smoke reeking up through the crevices.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)