From Middle English rek, reke (“smoke”), from Old English rēc, from Proto-West Germanic *rauki, from Proto-Germanic *raukiz, from Proto-Indo-European *rowgi-.
Cognate with West Frisian reek, riik, Dutch rook (“smoke”), Low German Röök, German Rauch (“smoke”), Danish røg (“smoke”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk røyk (“smoke”), Swedish rök (“smoke”), Faroese roykur (“smoke”), Icelandic reykur (“smoke”); also Lithuanian rū̃kti (“to smoke”), rū̃kas (“smoke, fog”), Albanian regj (“to tan”).
Meanings
(countable, uncountable) A strong unpleasant smell.
Thou mightst as well say, I loue to walke by the
Counter-gate, which is as hatefull to me, as the reeke of
a Lime-kill. c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
1768, Alexander Ross (poet), "Helenore; or, the fortunate Shepherdess": a Poem in the Broad Scoth Dialect
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.
The blue reeks of smoke from the cottages gave the whole widespread landscape an air of settled order and homely comfort. 1913, Arthur Conan Doyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Poison Belt […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
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.
Related to Dutch ruiken, Low German rüken, German riechen, Danish ryge, Swedish ryka.
Meanings
(intransitive) To have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell.
You reek of perfume.
Your fridge reeks of egg.
(figuratively, intransitive) To be evidently associated with something unpleasant.
The boss appointing his nephew as a director reeks of nepotism.
(archaic, intransitive) To be emitted or exhaled, emanate, as of vapour or perfume.
(archaic, intransitive) To emit smoke or vapour; to steam.
[…] innumerable Legions of his Angels of Light, the warm gleames of whose presence is able to make the Mountains to reek and smoak, and to awake that fiery principle that lies dormient in the Earth into a devouring flame. 1660, Henry More, An Explanation of the Grand Mystery of Godliness, page 236:
(rare, transitive) To cause (something) to smell.
The slaughter of lambs in offering reeked the fore-courts of the Temple. 1880, Lew Wallace, Ben-Hur:
[I]f we get caught we're for the gibbet and the chains. Our flesh will reek the wind. 2017, Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole, Bloomsbury, published 2019, page 43:
(archaic, of rain or snow) To fall in such a way (e.g. particularly finely or heavily) as to resemble smoke.
Great Serpents, like undulating clouds, / Crested, rain-reeking. Their bellies blacken the sky; / Their fierce rains flood earth's hill-rimmed vale; / Their drumming is from mountain to mountain; / From horizon to horizon is their thunder. 1922, Art and Archaeology, page 62:
the sun, which had been occasionally peeping from amidst the windy, rain-reeking clouds, was getting ominously low. One part, however, of the man's prophecy was not borne out - the weather steadily improved and the wind dropped. 1888, William Wilthew Fenn, A professional secret, and other tales, page 44:
... the snow still darkens the air, and reeks along the curling wreaths, as if each were a furnace. 1837, Robert Mudie, Spring, or the causes, appearances, and effects, of the seasonal renovations of nature in all climats, page 266:
bg воня (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · cs smrdět (to be evidently associated with something unpleasant) · tr kokmak (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · cs smrdět (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · pt feder (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · fi haiskahtaa (to be evidently associated with something unpleasant) · nl ruiken naar (to be evidently associated with something unpleasant) · sv stinka (to be evidently associated with something unpleasant) · it puzzare (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · ast feder (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · bg смърдя (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · cs čpět (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · es oler mal (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · fr puer (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · scn attassanari (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · la foeteō (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · tr kokmak (to be evidently associated with something unpleasant) · nl stinken (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · es apestar (to be evidently associated with something unpleasant) · pt cheirar (to be evidently associated with something unpleasant) · gl feder (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · fr fouetter (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · cs páchnout (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · ast atufar (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · ru попахивать (to be evidently associated with something unpleasant) · uk па́хнути (to be evidently associated with something unpleasant) · ru источа́ть за́пах (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · fi löyhkätä (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · es cantar (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · sv stinka (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · ast aponzoñar (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · de stinken (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · ast recender (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · ast arrecender (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · cs zavánět (to be evidently associated with something unpleasant) · fr schlinguer (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · es dar asco (to be evidently associated with something unpleasant) · ru воня́ть (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · scn sbummicari (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · es heder (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · scn nfittari (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · uk смерді́ти (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · gl abafar (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · no stinke (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · fr puer (to be evidently associated with something unpleasant) · es apestar (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · fr empester (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · nn tevja (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · fi lemuta (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · ru испуска́ть за́пах (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell) · scn fètiri (to have or give off a strong, unpleasant smell)
From Middle English reke (“heap, pile”), from Old English hrēac.
Meanings
A pile, a heap (as of snow, hay, etc).
"There'll be snow-reeks as high as houses if I wait half-an-hour longer." "There'll be no occasion for ye to wade thruff snaw-reeks at all, if ye'll go wi' me. I'll tak ye across th' warpin' till ye get to the sand-lane end, […] 1874, Edward PEACOCK (F.S.A.), John Markenfield. A Novel, page 118:
The fen "dikes" have been filled-in in some districts; and the black reeks remind one of snow-reeks, except for their blackness. 1855, The Economist, page 506:
Here a reek of straw was made, and as the reek of corn reduced in size this rose higher; there was skill in making a well balanced reek. The story of the harvest was told at the front of the thresher. 2013 September 2, Alice Taylor, To School Through the Fields, The O'Brien Press, →ISBN: