Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a rebuff, a rejection, a severe and surprising disappointment.

1878		Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic) 4 May 1/1: ‘He who excuses himself accuses himself,’ and this is what Mr Woods has done in his anxiety to prove that he was not prompted by malice to give Beechworth, in the language of the Cabinet, ‘a smack in the eye’.
1889		Gympie Times 30 Nov. 1/4: ‘Suppose Great Britain got a smack in the eye in the Channel, or met with any other very serious reverse, you [i.e. a British general] would have to look after yourselves and help her’ .
1898		Riverine Herald (Echuca, Vic) 18 Jan. 2/6: [headline] A ‘Smack In The Eye’ For France .
1907		Sydney Morn. Herald 10 AUg. 14/2: ‘The proposal to place 30 per cent. on wire netting is a smack in the eye for the farmer who has to fight the rabbits’.
1916		Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) 10 Sept. 3/6: ‘Crikey,’ said the Regular Rider, looking up from his evening paper, ‘that’s a smack in the eye for the anti-reinforcements crowd’.
1922		Dayton Dly News (OH) Mag. 18 June 2/1: ‘I don’t mind telling you — it was a bit of a smack in the eye for me’.
1933		Nambucca & Bellinger News (NSW) 5 May 1/4: Mr. R, Burnie, a Victorian butter exporter, said the other day that the Anglo-Danish agreement is a ‘smack in the eye’ for Australian dairy farmers.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 68: Smack in the eye, a disappointment, a refusal, a rebuff.
1946		Gilgandra Wkly (NSW) 14 Nov. 1/5: At the Hospital Board Meeting on T[u]esday night, after, a letter had been read from the Hospitals’ Commission, a director was beard to remark, ‘That’s a smack in the eye’ .
1956		J. Curtis Look Long Upon a Monkey 48: Coolavin was going to win all right. Lovely smack in the eye for that Randolph character.
1974		Guardian 18 Nov. 18/2: Negative football was dealt another cheerful smack in the eye at Bramall Lane on Saturday.