reek

English

Pronunciation

  • enPR: rēk, IPA(key): /ɹiːk/
  • Rhymes: -iːk
  • Homophone: wreak

Etymology 1

From Middle English rek, reke (“smoke”), from Old English rēc, rīec, from Proto-Germanic *raukiz (compare West Frisian reek, riik, Dutch rook, Low German Röök, German Rauch, Danish røg, Norwegian Bokmål røyk), from Proto-Indo-European *rowgi- (compare Lithuanian rū̃kti (“to smoke”), rū̃kas (“smoke, fog”), Albanian regj (“to tan”)).[1]

Noun

reek (uncountable)

  1. A strong unpleasant smell.
  2. Vapour; steam; smoke; fume.
    • Shakespeare
      As hateful to me as the reek of a limekiln.
    • Helenore; or, the fortunate Shepherdess: a Poem in the Broad Scoth Dialect, Alexander Ross (poet), 1768:
      Now, by this time, the sun begins to leam,
      And lit the hill-heads with his morning beam;
      And birds, and beasts, and folk to be a-steer,
      And clouds o’ reek frae lum heads to appear.
Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English reken (“to smoke”), from Old English rēocan, from Proto-Germanic *reukaną (compare Dutch ruiken, Low German rüken, German riechen, Danish ryge, Swedish ryka), from Proto-Indo-European *rougi-. See above.

Verb

reek (third-person singular simple present reeks, present participle reeking, simple past and past participle reeked)

  1. (archaic, intransitive) To be emitted or exhaled, emanate, as of vapour or perfume.
  2. To have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell.
    You reek of perfume.
    Your fridge reeks of egg.
  3. (figuratively) To be evidently associated with something unpleasant.
    The boss appointing his nephew as a director reeks of nepotism.
Translations

Etymology 3

Probably a transferred use (after Irish cruach stack (of corn), pile, mountain, hill) of a variant of rick (with which it is cognate).

Noun

reek (plural reeks)

  1. (Ireland) A hill; a mountain.

References

  • A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, →ISBN
  • Northumberland Words, English Dialect Society, R. Oliver Heslop, 1893–4
  • A List of words and phrases in everyday use by the natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham, F.M.T.Palgrave, English Dialect Society vol.74, 1896,
  • The New Geordie Dictionary, Frank Graham, 1987, →ISBN
  • Notes:
  1. ↑ Vladimir Orel, A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, s.vv. “*raukiz”, “*reukanan”(Leiden: Brill, 2003), 299:303.

Anagrams

Scots

Etymology

From Middle English rek, reke (“smoke”), from Old English rēc, rīec, from Proto-Germanic *raukiz.

Noun

reek (uncountable)

  1. reek

Verb

reek (third-person singular present reeks, present participle reekin, past reekt, past participle reekt)

  1. reek

West Frisian

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old Frisian rēk, from Proto-Germanic *raukiz. Compare North Frisian reck, rieck, English reek, Danish rook, Low German Röök, German Rauch, Danish røg.

Noun

reek c

  1. smoke
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