reek vi.发臭; 强烈意味着 n. 恶臭 SYN: stench
It smells absolutely rotten /ˈrɒtən/ and offensive. Birds are falling from the sky because of the fumes. You might throw up from one whiff. Whatever it is, it reeks.
Shakespeare famously wrote about the "breath that from my mistress reeks," but that's not a nice way to talk about a girlfriend. The word usually describes smells, but can also be used to suggest something fishy, as in "the suspicious transactions reeked of mob involvement." But noses everywhere agree: Whether it's coming from your sneakers or from the aftermath of a shady (probably dishonest or illegal) deal, if something reeks — it stinks to high heaven 臭气熏天.
A Delicately Deodorized Word Bouquet
(deodorize /diː'əʊdəraɪz/ to remove a bad smell 除臭)
For when we'd rather not say what smells.
By Adam CooperAugust 17, 2015
There's no nice way to put it: as we reach the peak of temperature and humidity levels in much of the northern hemisphere, we all too often find ourselves confronted by things — and yes, people — who smell. And even if we'd like to turn up our nose, for once let's take a giant whiff. Or at least an etymological /ˌɛtɪməˈlɒdʒɪkəl/ 词源学的 one.
Words for things that are smelly often have interesting histories, because they are related to taboo subjects. And like those subjects themselves, their power and force emanates from (/'eməneɪtb/ to come from sth or somewhere) — or, one might even say, is redolent of (/ˈrɛdəʊlənt/ smelling strongly of sth 散发强烈气味的 )— their uncivilized nature.
We don't like to talk about it. In American English, using the verb smell without an object, as in "What smells?" is an accusation, implying that something really powerful and unpleasant, something we would rather not dignify by naming, is perfuming the air. (The answer to the question "What smells?" is almost never "Roses.") A similar elision occurs in American English when the verb drink occurs without an object — the dreaded(causing fear) alcohol can only be assumed. An insistence that (to insist that) "I don't drink" is not a protestation(/‚prɒtɪ'steɪʃən/a strong statement) that one doesn't imbibe(drink) liquids in general or that one takes them intravenously(/‚ɪntrə'viːnəsli/通过静脉地), it is a culturally /'kʌltʃərəli/ acceptable expression of one's status as a teetotaler ( teetotaller/ tiː'təʊt ə lə/someone who never drinks alcohol 滴酒不沾的人) .
Funky & funk
Even though we often do know perfectly well what we are smelling, when we do decide to name it, we'll more likely softshoe it with something like funky, rather than naming the odor(smell) point-blank(very directly or rudely 直接了当). And although it may depress you if you are surrounded by funky smells all the time, the two uses of the word funk, "depression" and "bad smell," are not etymologically related. The latter is from dialectical French funkiere, "to smoke." The sense here is that someone has blown smoke on you and you have been "stifled (/'staɪfəl/suffocated) with offensive vapor/ 'veɪpə/." And in spite of the modern coolness surrounding funk musicians, there's nothing modern about funk as in skunk. It dates all the way back to the 17th century.
Reek
Funk is not the only old word for a bad smell that comes from the idea of smoke; in the peeyoo-smoke category we also find reek. Although primarily used in present-day English as a verb to mean "to have or emit(send out) a foul(unpleasant) odor," the noun originally meant "smoke from burning material." Although exactly where reek comes from is uncertain, it is probably from a Scandinavian source like Old Norse reykr; this Old Norse root, as a verb reykja "to smoke" provides the name of Iceland's capital Reykjavik (-vik means "bay"). So yes, Reykjavik is the "reeking bay" city, but to locals, this concept connotes(suggest) wonderfully smoky Icelandic hot springs, not sulphuric(含硫磺的) eruptions or even just that hotel room that wasn't as smoke free as the hotelier(/həʊ'telieɪ, -liə/旅店老板) had promised.
Stench
Was it ever possible to tell your sweetheart how much you love their stench(a very strong bad smell) and still have them be your sweetheart? If you were living in the twelfth century or earlier, maybe. Stench's association with a bad, or even evil, odor has been prevalent(/'prevələnt/common) since the thirteenth. In fact, this very old word used to be part of a verbal paradigm 口头范例 in previous versions of English that no longer exists in our language.
Stink
In Old English, stincan was an intransitive verb that meant "to emit a smell" and stench was the causative 使役的 form, meaning roughly, "to cause to emit a smell." Other verb pairs that were related to each other in this way include drink/drench (whose ancestral form meant "make drunk" three hundred years before the current word took on its modern day meaning of "wet thoroughly"), shrink/shrench ("cause to shrink") and sink/sench ("cause to sink"). These causative forms were replaced by transitive forms (as in "You sunk my battleship!"), but while a causative form for drink might come in handy when accusing your friends of daring you too go too far at the bar, and a causative of shrink would be useful when arguing with a dry cleaner, mostly the language gets along fine without these forms.
Sniff
Speaking of causation, can you cause yourself to smell something or is it just a side effect of breathing? Before you answer, think about the difference between what happens when you sniff. The interesting thing about this word is that, before this came to suggest the action of a bloodhound, sniff described an "expression of scorn or contempt." Possibly related to snyvelen, which also contributes to(to be one of causes of) our word snivel(cry and sniff), the contemptuous(scornful) sniff dates from 1729, and the word is not recorded as a synonym for smell until 1845.
Which can only make one wonder: as we evolved from (develop gradually) the age of the chamberpot(a round container for urine夜壶) and semi-seasonal-at-best bathing, how are we only now acquiring words to delicately allude to (to mention indirectly) our nasal suffering?
reek 的例句
His breath reeked of tobacco. 他满嘴的烟臭味。
This room absolutely reeks. 这房间臭及了。
He reeked of sweat. 他一身汗臭。
Your breath reeks of stale cigar smoke. 你的呼吸中散发出雪茄的臭味
Her denials reeked of hypocrisy. 她那样否认显得很虚伪。
The whole business reeks of dishonestly. 整件事都充满欺诈的味道。
The whole thing reeks of hypocrisy. 整件事充满了虚伪。
名词用法
He smelled the reek of whisky. 他散发出威士忌酒味。
the reek of cigarettes and beer 香烟和啤酒的臭味。
