Green’s Dictionary of Slang

pong n.¹

a smell.

1900

190019502000

2024

1900		Marvel 21 Dec. 15: The pong of fride addocks.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 17 Oct. 11/3: [T]he menagerie odors are still clinging and bold. That is to say, the ‘pong’ of the tiger and the ‘hum’ of the bear remain the audience’s inseparable companions as heretofore.
1924		C.J. Dennis ‘’Ave a ’Eart!’ Rose of Spadgers 78: Through one last orful pong, then up a stair / Into clean air.
1940		M. Marples Public School Slang 160: SMELL. Some forceful synonym is generally preferred to the simple word — e.g. hum, niff (adj. niffy), pong, stink, whiff [ad], whiffy).
1957		J. Braine Room at the Top (1959) 40: Lord, what a pong.
1964		R. Helmer Stag Party 57: When it warms up the pong is terrific.
[1968		A. Burgess Enderby Outside in Complete Enderby (2002) 306: Now, the pongalorum of a dunny is that bad that you'd lay out a yard in full view if you drew it in in the way of normality].
1978		A. Burgess 1985 (1980) 154: Take your non-unionized pong away.
1985		Beano Comic Library No. 79 14: Phew! What a pong!
1993		R. Doyle Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha 114: Terence Long Terence Long – / Wears no socks – / What a pong.
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 4: A mischievous schoolboy who’s just shit in the teacher’s drawer and [...] waits for the pong to hit.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 418: . . . terrible fuckin pong.
2008		R. Fortey Dry Store Room No. 1 151: It could be argued that alcohol was necessary to help him survive a life in the whale room with its overwhelming pong.
2010		K. Richards Life 33: London to me when I grew up was horse shit and coal smoke [...] London Pong.
2012		(con. 1943) G.S. Manson Coorparoo Blues [ebook] There was a slight pong from the chookshit on his trouser leg.
2016		A. Wheatle Crongton Knights 41: The rank pong of cat piss invaded my nostrils.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 187: An elephant squatted to dump a lavish knoll of droppings [...] Never mind the pong!