stank

Everyday

1. Stank is the past form of «stink»: it smelled very bad. tree →
2. Stank can also mean (informal) that something was very bad or poor: the film stank. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life and funny stories «stank» describes bins, socks, rotten eggs and drains; it makes the reader almost smell the scene. In informal talk it means something was terrible. Phrases: it stank of, stank to high heaven.

Examples

• The bin stank after a week in the sun. tree →
• His socks stank after the football match. tree →
• The room stank of fish. tree →
• The pond stank in the hot weather. tree →
• The rotten egg stank so badly we opened the windows. tree →
• That joke stank (informal). tree →
• The cheese stank, but it tasted great. tree →

Note

Forms: stink – stank – stunk (have stunk). Some people say «stunk» as the past too (it stunk), but «stank» is standard for the simple past. «Stank of» + the smell.

In Jewish tradition

It means smelled very bad. In Exodus it describes the land after the plague of frogs, when the dead frogs were piled up.

Interpretation. The plague of frogs is one of the ten plagues that struck Egypt. The smell of the heaps reminded the Egyptians how powerless they were.

Examples

• And they gathered them together in heaps; and the land stank. (Torah EXO.8.14, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Forms: stink – stank – stunk (have stunk). Some people say «stunk» as the past too (it stunk), but «stank» is standard for the simple past. «Stank of» + the smell.