Meaning

6 senses
  1. (intransitive)To have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell.

    You reek of perfume.

    Your fridge reeks of egg.

    stinken

    воня́тьvonjátʹ, испуска́ть за́пахispuskátʹ zápax, источа́ть за́пахistočátʹ zápax

    смерді́тиsmerdíty

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

  2. (figuratively, intransitive)To be evidently associated with something unpleasant.

    The boss appointing his nephew as a director reeks of nepotism.

    попахиватьpopaxivatʹ

    па́хнутиpáxnuty

  3. (rare, transitive)To cause (something) to smell.

    smell badly and offensively

  4. (archaic, intransitive)To be emitted or exhaled, emanate, as of vapour or perfume.

  5. (archaic, intransitive)To emit smoke or vapour; to steam.

  6. (archaic)To fall in such a way (e.g. particularly finely or heavily) as to resemble smoke.

Examples

44 sentences
  1. You reek of cigarette smoke.

    Від тебе смердить цигарками. — deniko

    ruОт тебя несет сигаретным дымом. — carlosalberto

    deDu stinkst nach Zigarettenqualm. — Pfirsichbaeumchen

  2. Tom reeks of booze.

    ruОт Тома несёт выпивкой. — Wezel

    deTom hat eine Fahne. — Waldelfe

  3. Tom reeked of alcohol.

    ruОт Тома несло спиртным. — Ooneykcall

    deTom stank nach Alkohol. — Pfirsichbaeumchen

  4. Sami's apartment reeks of cat shit.

  5. The fish reeks, it's gone bad.

Translations

8 languages
Українська
By meaning 2
to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell:
to be evidently associated with something unpleasant:
Русский
By meaning 2
to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell:
to be evidently associated with something unpleasant:
Deutsch
By meaning 1
to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell:

Origin

From Middle English reken (“to smoke”), from Old English rēocan, from Proto-West Germanic

From Middle English reken (“to smoke”), from Old English rēocan, from Proto-West Germanic *reukan, from Proto-Germanic *reukaną, from Proto-Indo-European *rougi-. See above.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

reeks, reeking, reeked, reeked
Base formreek · to reek
3rd person singularreeks
Present participlereeking
Past simplereeked
Past participlereeked

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theyreek
he, she, itreeks

Past simpleLesson

all personsreeked

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave reeked
he, she, ithas reeked

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill reek

Synonyms

11 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • be wet with sweat or blood, as of one's face:fume
  • smell badly and offensively:stink
  • have an element suggestive (of something):smacksmell

Antonyms

3 antonyms

Word family

7 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
reek — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto