different between straight vs smack

English

Alternative forms

• streight (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English streight, streght, strei?t, the past participle of strecchen (“to stretch”), from Old English stre??an (past participle ?estreaht, ?estreht), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch”). Doublet of straught.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?e?t/
• Rhymes: -e?t
• Homophone: strait

Adjective

straight (comparative straighter, superlative straightest)

1. Not crooked or bent; having a constant direction throughout its length. [from 14^thc.]
   • 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility:

     I do not like crooked, twisted, blasted trees. I admire them much more if they are tall, straight and flourishing.

   • “Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better. […]”

   • 2011, Adharanand Finn, The Guardian, 22 March:

     The other people, I presume, are supposed to be standing to attention, but they're all smiling at me. The lines are not even straight.

2. (of a path, trajectory, etc.) Direct, undeviating. [from 15^thc.]
   • 1913, John Fox, Jr., The Kentuckians, page 185:

     Now, as the world knows, the straightest way to the heart of the honest voter is through the women of the land, and the straightest way to the heart of the women is through the children of the land; and one method of winning both, with rural politicians, is to kiss the babies wide and far.
3. Perfectly horizontal or vertical; not diagonal or oblique. [from 17^thc.]
   • 1925, United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee No. 1, Charges Against William E. Baker, U.S. District Judge:

     Mr. Coniff: He did not have his hat on straight; that is the one thing, is it?
4. (cricket) Describing the bat as held so as not to incline to either side; on, or near a line running between the two wickets. [from 19^thc.]
   • 2011 March 15, Alan Gardner & Barney Ronay, The Guardian:

     Steyn continues and it's all a bit more orderly down his end as O'Brien defends the first three balls with a straight bat and a respectful dip of the head.

5. Direct in communication; unevasive, straightforward. [from 19^thc.]
   • 2003, Rosie Cowan, The Guardian, 24 April:

     Tony Blair issued a direct challenge to the IRA yesterday when he demanded they give straight answers to three simple questions […].
6. Free from dishonesty; honest, law-abiding. [from 16th c.]
   • 1879, Anthony Trollope, John Caldigate:

     ‘It wasn't the proper thing, squoire. It wasn't straight.’

   • 2010 August 4, The Guardian, Out of prison and trying to go straight [2]:

     How easy is it to go straight after a life spent in and out of prison?

7. Serious rather than comedic.
   • 1988, Ed Gould, Entertaining Canadians: Canada's international stars, 1900-1988, Cappis Pr Pub Ltd (?ISBN):

     Allan Blye, a CBC-TV mainstay in the early Sixties, worked as a singer, writer and straight and comedic actor.

   • 2004, Tammy Ravas, Peter Schickele: A Bio-bibliography, Greenwood Publishing Group (?ISBN):

     All of Peter Schickele's music, both straight and comedic are integrated side by side in this chapter.

   • 2005, Bob McCabe, The Rough Guide to Comedy Movies, Rough Guides Limited:

     More success followed, both straight and comedic, with hits such as Dead Poets' Society (1989), in which Williams scored another Oscar nomination for skilfully handling a classic "rogue teacher" role that hovers just this side of sentimentality, […]

8. In proper order; as it should be. [from 19^thc.]
   • 2010, Paul Gallagher, The Observer, 15 August:

     "If you wonder why folks can't take the news seriously, here's Exhibit A," said one blogger. "Lord Jesus, how can the reporter file this story with a straight face?"

9. In a row, in unbroken sequence; consecutive. [from 19^thc.]
   • 2008, "Bad vibrations", The Economist, 30 October:

     As of October 29th, three-month dollar Libor (the rate at which banks borrow from each other) had fallen for 13 straight days and was nearly one-and-a-half percentage points below its October 10th level.

10. (tennis) Describing the sets in a match of which the winner did not lose a single set. [from 19^thc.]
    • 2011 February 10, Press Association:

      Murray started well against Marcos Baghdatis before slumping to defeat in straight sets and the British No1 admitted he may not have been mentally prepared for the rigours of the ATP Tour after a gruelling start to 2011.

11. (US, politics) Making no exceptions or deviations in one's support of the organization and candidates of a political party.

12. (US, politics) Containing the names of all the regularly nominated candidates of a party and no others.

13. (colloquial) Conventional, mainstream, socially acceptable. [from 20^thc.]
    • 1998, Eileen Fitzpatrick & Dominic Pride, Billboard, 17 October 1998:

      ‘Her last album was a bit too straight,’ he says, ‘but this one puts her in a more contemporary framework and softens her music.’
14. (colloquial) Heterosexual, attracted to people of the opposite sex.
    • 2007, Layla Kumari, The Guardian, 17 September:

      Some of my friends – gay and straight – seem unable to understand the close but platonic nature of my and Gian's relationship, but have been supportive.
15. (colloquial, of a romantic or sexual relation) Occurring between people of opposite sex.

    straight marriage, sex, relationships

16. (colloquial) Not using alcohol, drugs, etc. [from 20^thc.]

    Synonym: straightedge

    • 1989, Gus Van Sant, Drugstore Cowboy:

      For all the boredom the straight life brings, it's not too bad.
17. (fashion) Not plus size; thin.

18. (rare, now chiefly religion) Strait; narrow.
19. (obsolete) Stretched out; fully extended. [15^th-16^thc.]
20. (slang) Thorough; utter; unqualified.
    • 2012, Pimpin' Ken, PIMPOLOGY: The 48 Laws of the Game, page 11:

      A real pimp is a gentleman, but these are pimps in gorilla suits. They hang around pimps, they have hoes on the track working for them, they may even look like pimps, but they are straight simps.

21. Of spirits: undiluted, unmixed; neat. [from 19^thc.]
22. (sciences, mathematics) Concerning the property allowing the parallel-transport of vectors along a course that keeps tangent vectors remain tangent vectors throughout that course (a course which is straight, a straight curve, is a geodesic).

Antonyms

• bent
• crooked
• curved

Derived terms

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ?????

Translations

Adverb

straight (comparative more straight, superlative most straight)

1. Of a direction relative to the subject, precisely; as if following a direct line.

   The door will be straight ahead of you.

   Go straight back.

2. Directly; without pause, delay or detour.

   On arriving at work, he went straight to his office.

   • I know thy generous temper well; / Fling but the appearance of dishonour on it, / It straight takes fire, and mounts into a blaze.

3. Continuously; without interruption or pause.

   He claims he can hold his breath for three minutes straight.

Translations

Noun

straight (plural straights)

1. Something that is not crooked or bent such as a part of a road or track.
2. (poker) Five cards in sequence.
3. (colloquial) A heterosexual.

   Synonyms: hetero, breeder

4. (slang) A normal person; someone in mainstream society.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:mainstreamer
5. (slang) A cigarette, particularly one containing tobacco instead of marijuana. [from 20th c.]

   Synonym: straighter

   • [1923, J[oseph] Manchon, Le slang : lexique de l'anglais familier et vulgaire : précédé d'une étude sur la pronunciation et la grammaire populaires, p. 296:

     A straight = a straighter = a straight cut, une cigarette en tabac de Virginie.]

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ????? (sutor?to)
• ? Portuguese: straight

Translations

Verb

straight (third-person singular simple present straights, present participle straighting, simple past and past participle straighted)

1. (transitive) To straighten.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of A. Smith to this entry?)

See also

Portuguese

Etymology

From English straight.

Noun

straight m (plural straights)

1. (poker) straight (five cards in sequence)

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /smæk/
• Rhymes: -æk

Etymology 1

From Middle English smac, smak, smacke, from Old English smæc, smæ?? (“taste, smatch”), from Proto-Germanic *smakkuz (“a taste”), from Proto-Indo-European *smeg?-, *smeg- (“to taste”). Cognate with English dialectal smatch, Scots smak (“scent, smell, taste, flavour”), Saterland Frisian Smoak (“taste”), West Frisian smaak (“taste”), Dutch smaak (“taste”), German Schmack, Geschmack (“taste”), Swedish and Norwegian smak (“taste”), Norwegian smekke . Akin to Old English smæ??an (“to taste, smack”). More at smake, smatch.

Noun

smack (countable and uncountable, plural smacks)

1. A distinct flavor, especially if slight.

   rice pudding with a smack of cinnamon
2. A slight trace of something; a smattering.
   • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

     He was not sailorly, and yet he had a smack of the sea about him too.

3. (slang, uncountable) Heroin.
4. (Northern England) A form of fried potato; a scallop.

Derived terms

• foresmack
• smackless

Translations

Verb

smack (third-person singular simple present smacks, present participle smacking, simple past and past participle smacked)

1. (transitive) To get the flavor of.
   • 1827, Thomas Carlyle (translator), Johann August Musæus, "Melechsala" (1782-86); in German Romance I. 175

     He soon smacked the taste of physic hidden in this sweetness.

2. (intransitive) To indicate or suggest something; used with of.

   Her reckless behavior smacks of pride.
3. (intransitive) To have a particular taste; used with of.
   • 1820-25, Charles Lamb, Essays of Elia

     He had his tea and hot rolls in a morning, while we were battening upon our quarter-of-a-penny loaf — our crug — moistened with attenuated small beer, in wooden piggings, smacking of the pitched leathern jack it was poured from.

Derived terms

• smack of

Etymology 2

From Middle Low German smack (Low German Schmacke, Schmaake (“small ship”)) or Dutch smak, perhaps ultimately related to smakken, imitative of the sails' noise.

Noun

smack (plural smacks)

2. A small sailing vessel, commonly rigged as a sloop, used chiefly in the coasting and fishing trade and often called a fishing smack
3. A group of jellyfish.

Translations

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “smack”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Etymology 3

From Middle Dutch smacken, of imitative origin.

Akin to German schmatzen (“eat noisily”), Dutch smakken (“to fling down”), Plautdietsch schmaksen (“to smack the lips”), regional German schmacken, Schmackes (“vigour”) (compare Swedish smak (“slap”), Middle Low German smacken, the first part of Saterland Frisian smakmuulje (“smack”)).

Noun

smack (plural smacks)

1. A sharp blow; a slap. See also: spank.
2. The sound of a loud kiss.
3. A quick, sharp noise, as of the lips when suddenly separated, or of a whip.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

smack (third-person singular simple present smacks, present participle smacking, simple past and past participle smacked)

1. To slap or hit someone.
2. To make a smacking sound.
   • 1832, Banjamin Disraeli, Contarini Fleming

     A horse neighed, and a whip smacked, there was a whistle, and the sound of a cart wheel.

3. (New Zealand) To strike a child (usually on the buttocks) as a form of discipline. (US spank)
4. To wetly separate the lips, making a noise, after tasting something or in expectation of a treat.
   • 1763, Robert Lloyd, “A Familiar Epistle” in St. James Magazine:

     But when, obedient to the mode / Of panegyric, courtly ode / The bard bestrides, his annual hack, / In vain I taste, and sip and smack, / I find no flavour of the Sack.

5. To kiss with a close compression of the lips, so as to make a sound when they separate.

Translations

Adverb

smack (not comparable)

1. As if with a smack or slap; smartly; sharply.

   Right smack bang in the middle.

Derived terms

• smack-dab

Further reading

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Anagrams

• macks

Swedish

Noun

smack n

1. (in the phrase "inte ett smack") smidgeon, piece, small bit

See also

• inte ett smack

Anagrams

• macks