smake

English

Etymology 1

From dialectal smak, early modern English smake, from Middle English smaken (“to taste, sense flavour, detect by taste or smell”), from Middle Dutch smaken (“to taste”).

Verb

smake (third-person singular simple present smakes, present participle smaking, simple past and past participle smaked)

1. Synonym of smack (“to taste, lick”)
   • 1882, Bricktop, The trip of the Sardine Club:

     Even Bill Bitters could not find it in his heart to say a word against this moisture, and he actually smaked his lips, although he turned away lest someone should see him do it.

   • 1893, Margaret Sidney, Five little Peppers Midway:

     Now, that's good," smaking his lips in a pleased way.

   • 1918, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (U.S.), Locomotive engineers journal:

     He smaked his lips in anticipation of the coming treat.

   • 1922, Lucy Fox Robins Lang, Mrs. Lucy Robins, War Shadows:

     It is not a nice place to look at, rough you know,” he smiled, and his right eye winked at Frayne: “But the corned beef and cabbage, and the waffles. Mm!” He smaked his lips with desire.

Etymology 2

Noun

smake (plural smakes)

1. Obsolete form of smack.
   • 1733, Ebenezer Erſkine, The Stone Rejected by the Builders […] :

     One of the great ſources of this evil was, that if a man had beeen^[sic] trained up at the feet of Gamaliel for a few years, and got a ſmake of the learning then in vogue, it was enough in their opinion to qualify him for being a builder in the houſe of God […]

   • 1856, Edward Augustus Bond, Giles Fletcher, Sir Jerome Horsey, Russia at the close of the sixteenth century:

     A smake there is in other things, but small purpose.

Anagrams

• Kasem, meaks, kames, samek, Maske, Mekas, makes, kasme, Masek, Samek

Dutch

Verb

smake

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of smaken

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *smako, from Proto-West Germanic *smakō; compare Middle Low German smāke, Old Frisian smaka.

Noun

smāke m or f

1. taste, act of tasting
2. taste, flavour

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: smaak
  • Afrikaans: smaak
  • → Limburgish: smaak
  • → Papiamentu: smak, smaak

Further reading

• “smake”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “smake”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Middle English

Etymology 1

Noun

smake

1. Alternative form of smak

Etymology 2

Verb

smake

1. Alternative form of smaken

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From German Low German smaken.

Verb

smake (imperative smak, present tense smaker, simple past smakte, past participle smakt, present participle smakende)

1. to taste (something)
2. to smack.

Derived terms

• smakebit

Related terms

• smak (noun)

References

• “smake” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

smake (present tense smakar or smaker, past tense smaka or smakte, past participle smaka or smakt, present participle smakande, imperative smak)

1. Alternative form of smaka