smack v.
1. to kiss.
Promos and Cassandra I IV vii: Come, smack me; I long for a smouch. | ||
‘Jealous Nanny’ in Roxburghe Ballads (1891) VII:2 373: And have I not seen you with Sawney, / Discourse, embrace, and to smack. | ||
, , | Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Smack, to kiss. I had a smack at her muns: I kissed her mouth […]. | |
Life’s Painter 139: The first thing that was done, sir, / Was handling round the kid, / That all might smack his muns, sir. | ||
Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785]. | ||
Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | ||
Nonsense 78: I never had kissed her before, for it is wrong to kiss girls – before you kiss them! But that night, how I went for kisses. We smacked and smacked, till the owls hooted in fear. | ||
Bulletin (Sydney) 6 June 22/1: ‘Embrace me!’ cried the Baron. And he smacked the Australian Rich over each eyebrow. | ||
Dict. Amer. Sl. | ||
Pinktoes (1989) 81: ‘Your secretary is smacking.’ [...] ‘As long as she’s not shacking.’. | ||
‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2. | ||
Playboy’s Book of Forbidden Words. |
2. to whip a horse.
Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 494: He said no more, but quickly got / His geldings smack’d into a trot. | ||
Burlesque Homer (4th edn) II 315: Though, by great luck, this Jehu got / His geldings smack’d into a trot. |
3. (also smack about, smack around) to hit, to beat; thus smacked, hit, beaten; killed.
Age (London) 8 Jan. 6/1: [T]he defendant [...] came up to her, exclaiming ‘I’ll smack your ugly chops,’ at the same time [...] she gave the complainant so violent a blow on the mouth, as caused the claret to flow profusely:. | ||
Life in the Saddle 46: He gave me some of his lip, and I smacked his face for it! | ||
Deadwood Dick in Beadle’s Half Dime Library I:1 84/1: I smacked him in the gob. | ||
Bulletin (Sydney) 19 Sept. 9/2: The burden of one song was that if your girl didn’t seem sufficiently pliable at the first go-off, you were to ‘smack her round the “kisser” once or twice.’. | ||
Hooligan Nights 128: I knocked ’im out first time I smacked ’im. | ||
Sporting Times 7 Mar. 1/4: You really should smack that daughter of yours, Mrs. Jones. | ||
Lighter Side of School Life 78: He would rather have his head smacked than be ignored. | ||
Carry on, Jeeves 181: I saw the fat child meditatively smacking a jelly-fish with a spade. | ||
(con. 1910s) Studs Lonigan (1936) 137: Fighting made him sick. When he went with the guys smacking Jews, [...] he felt as if he’d puke. | Young Lonigan in||
We Were the Rats 110: Give the kids a fair go Charlie, or I’ll smack you in the chops. | ||
Catcher in the Rye (1958) 213: I was almost all set to hit her. I thought I was going to smack her for a second or two. | ||
Eight Bells & Top Masts (2001) 110: He threatened to smack me one, but his heart wasn’t in it. | diary 6 May in||
Crust on its Uppers 33: He’d always have smacked her one when I came back the next day. | ||
Jones Men 134: I’m gon tell him to keep smackin’ you [...] till I think you tellin’ me the truth. | ||
Up the Cross 31: ‘You rotten fart. I orta smack you fair in the gob’. | (con. 1959)||
He Died with His Eyes Open 14: They might give him a push or smack him just once. | ||
Vinnie Got Blown Away 38: Out the way or I got to smack you. | ||
(con. 1946) Big Blowdown (1999) 80: I used to smack him around. It was to make him tough. | ||
Grits 90: Ulweys pissed up an smackin us about like. | ||
Chicago Trib. ‘The Onion’ 1 Nov. TAB-5/1: Those toxic cells [...] get a ‘certain sick joy out of smacking researchers around like a bunch of little birches’ . | ||
Forensic Linguistic Databank 🌐 Smacked - punished, attacked or killed. | (ed.) ‘Drill Slang Glossary’ at||
Riker’s 45: [T]he cops smacked me around because I’m trying to explain. |
4. to throw (into).
Dames Don’t Care (1960) 108: I’ll take you right over the border now an’ smack you in the first sheriff’s lock-up [...] I come to. | ||
Und. Nights 22: They smack him in a peter on a charge of receiving. |
5. (US black gang) to act sycophantically, to toady.
Do or Die (1992) 127: Want to get respect? You don’t gotta kiss nobody’s ass, you don’t have to smack. | ||
Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 smack [...] 2. to fraternize with the enemy. Often involves ‘kissing up’. (‘They’re off smacking with student government.’). |
6. (US black) to criticize someone behind their back [ass n. (2)].
Black Talk. |
7. (also smack ass, smack it) to be very good, to excel.
College Sl. Research Project (Cal. State Poly. Uni., Pomona) 🌐 Smack (smack ass) (verb) To be very good; to be cool or awesome. | ||
🌐 Smacked it – Did something good. | ‘Blazing Squad Language’
8. see snack v.1
In phrases
see sense 2 above.
see sense 6 above.
(UK Und.) to kiss the Bible when taking an oath.
Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: To smack calves skin; to kiss the book, i.e. to take an oath. The queer cuffin bid me smack calves skin, but I only bussed my thumb; the justice bid me kiss the book, but I only kissed my thumb. | ||
Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn) n.p.: To smack calf’s skin; to kiss the book in taking an oath. It is held by the St. Giles’s casuists, that by kissing one’s thumb instead of smacking calf’s skin, the guilt of taking a false oath is avoided. | ||
Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1796]. | ||
Heart of Mid-Lothian (1883) 219: Why, I have smacked the calf-skin fifty times. | ||
Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue. | ||
Britannia & Trades’ Advocate (Hobart, Tas.) 2 June 3/1: [I]n the cant slang of the day ‘what signifies kissing the calf-skin!’ — that is to say, swearing to tell the truth, and kissing the holy Bible. | ||
Vocabulum. | ||
Life and Adventures. |
(Aus. und.) to rob a till.
Aus. Sl. Dict. 76: Smack the Peter, to rob a till. |
SE in slang uses
In phrases
see under blue n.4
(US) to travel in an ostentatious manner, to parade.
Reporter 10: With a flashing smile and a jiggy leg [...] Vittoro went smacking around the town. |
see separate entries.
(Aus.) to hurry.
Jim Brady 192: Hell, we’d better smack it about! | ||
I’m a Jack, All Right 7: You matelots had better smack it about if you’re planning to step ashore. |
(N.Z. prison) to serve (a portion of) one’s sentence.
Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 170/2: smack over v. to serve time out of one’s prison sentence: ‘What did you do in jail?’ ‘I just smacked over nine. |
see separate entries.