Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US Und.) to publish an account of a robbery.

1859

Matsell Vocabulum.

2. of a person’s reputation, to suffer, to appear poor in others’ eyes, to be considered inadequate or unpleasant; usu. constr. in phrs. with name/reputation.

[c.1617		Fletcher Chances I ix: Bring hither, as I say, to make my Name Stink in my Neighbour’s Nostrils? Your Devices, Your Brats, got out of Alligant, and broken Oaths?].
1886		R.L. Stevenson Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde n.p.: We told the man we could . . . make such a scandal out of this, as should make his name stink from one end of London to the other.
1918		Fortnightly Rev. CX 554: The Germany of to-day under William II. has brought about a succession of bad harvests throughout Europe, and her name stinks in the nostrils of decent men.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 85: That Mulligan is a contaminated bloody doubledyed ruffian by all accounts. His name stinks all over Dublin.
1938		R. Chandler ‘The King in Yellow’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 51: You’re just a guy with a [...] personal reputation that stinks from here to Miami and back.
1945		N. Marsh Died in the Wool (1963) 188: He stinks. He’s a toad.
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 4: [of early white New Zealanders] To me [...] they stink. [...] They stink because they brought with them the smell of a dying civilisation.
2003		M. Nesbitt Gigantic 14: She’s so full of shit her name stinks.

3. of an inanimate object or a circumstance, to appear unpleasant, morally inadequate; to be mediocre.

[a.1661		‘An Answer to a Love-Elegy’ in Rump Poems and Songs (1662) I 50: I read Hell in every line / Of your Polluted Fescennine; / Your Verses stink; to keep ’em sweet / You should have put Socks on their Feet].
1812		Spirit of Irish Wit 113: ‘Profered sarvice stinks, I see; — but what could expect from a sow but a grunt?’.
1909		A. Bierce letter 9 Jan. in Pope Letters of Ambrose Bierce (1922) 154: I would be a good deal of a Socialist myself if they had not made the word (and the thing) stink.
1913		J. London Valley of the Moon (1914) 154: The country’s in the hands of a gang of robbers [...] Rotten? I tell you it stinks.
1929		S. Ornitz Haunch Paunch and Jowl 214: Politics stank of corruption and chicanery.
1938		G. Kersh Night and the City 217: Dog racing is dirty; boxing isn’t clean; racing stinks a bit.
1945		(con. 1941) R. Westerby Mad in Pursuit 243: I assure you I’m sincere when I say I think it stinks.
1958		R. Prather Scrambled Yeggs 29: I reserve the right to return your retainer [...] and get the hell out if I think the deal’s starting to stink.
1970		B. Adler Vietnam Letters (2003) 2 May 148: His patients told him his English stunk.
1977		K. Gilbert Living Black 133: I tell you, mate, this town, it stinks. It’s the worst town in New South Wales.
1982		H. Beaton Outside In I i: Somethin’ stinks about her an’ I plan to find out what.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 151: His job at Kikey T.’s deli stunk.
2000		F. Kellerman Stalker (2001) 267: I was about to call in the plates, but the car bolted. Obviously my tail stank, and I gave myself away.
2009		Columbian-Progress (MS)16 July 4/2: Mississippi’s system of pricing car tags stinks.

4. of an individual, to behave offensively, to appear offensive to someone.

[a.1661		‘The Arraignment of the Devil for stealing away President Bradshaw’ in Rump Poems and Songs (1662) ii 135: He took a Traytor. / John Bradshaw was his name. / How he stinks, how he stinks, / Who’l make with blacker fame, / Pilate unknown].
1937		D. Fuchs Low Company 10: ‘Aaah, you stink,’ the gambler remarked.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 199: We had always thought Nichols stunk, with or without his corny Dixieland Five Pennies.
1966		P. Willmott Adolescent Boys of East London (1969) 27: Most teachers stink.
1974		(con. late 1940s) E. Thompson Tattoo (1977) 572: You really stink, Jack! You really do, boy!
1993		L. Rodríguez Always Running (1996) 178: Mexicans Go Home! Greasers Stink!
2001		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 10: To be bad or displeasing: [...] STINK.

5. (orig. US) to perform (a job, a sport) in a mediocre manner.

1931		P. Stevenson Gospel According to St Luke’s 113: Gee, we stank, didn’t we?
1948		(con. 1944) N. Mailer Naked and Dead 667: Men, y’ stink.
1959		D. Niland Big Smoke 128: You stink. The lot of you. It all stinks.
1965		D. Martin Hero of Too 350: It’s plain I am the biggest coward who ever was. The great ruck-rover. I stink.
1974		R. Blount Jr About Three Bricks Shy of a Load 26: (‘Stink out the place,’ or ‘. . . the joint,’ or ‘. . . the house,’ is a player’s common expression for doing badly, as in ‘My hands stunk out the joint tonight’).
1988		D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 181: Shuggie’s snowin’ me, ain’t he? It stinks.

6. to fail, in a monetary sense.

1940

J.H. O’Hara Pal Joey 35: There was a rumor around that the room would fold because business stunk.

7. in ironic use, to be full of, redolent of.

1930

‘Dean Stiff’ Milk and Honey Route 208: How strong are you? – Meaning, How much money have you? If you have a pile you answer, ‘So strong, I stink’.

8. to be highly improbable, to lack verisimiltude.

1938		R. Chandler ‘Red Wind’ in Red Wind (1946) 17: It’s so simple it stinks.
1949		R. Chandler Little Sister 192: Something stinks [...] And it isn’t wild lilac.
1951		M. Spillane Long Wait (1954) 48: I couldn’t get it out of my mind that something stunk and my nose wasn’t big enough to catch the smell.
1964		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 121: They’ll come to see you and eye at the jailers and wink at the finks, / and tell you she loves you, when the whole damn story stinks.
1999		Indep. Rev. 27 Aug. 4: Actually, ‘top personality’ is not a meaningful term, in fact it stinks.