Wiktionary

stinker

English

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Etymology

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From stink +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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stinker (plural stinkers)

  1. One who stinks.
    Skunks are the worst stinkers in the animal kingdom.
  2. (slang) A contemptible person or thing.
    • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:
      "Stop squallin', you little stinker!" She struck the child with her open hand across the face.
    • 1952, C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader:
      "But it's far worse for me," said Edmund, "because you'll at least have a room of your own and I shall have to share a bedroom with that record stinker, Eustace."
    • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter II, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
      Never be a stinker, because if you are, though you may flourish for a time like a green bay tree, sooner or later retribution will overtake you.
    • 2011, Steven Z. Kussin, Doctor, Your Patient Will See You Now, page 241:
      When you are colonized by dangerous bacteria their presence in your body does no damage. You become a reservoir for those little stinkers.
  3. (slang) Something difficult (e.g. a given puzzle) or unpleasant (e.g. negative review, nasty letter).
    Today's crossword is a stinker.
    • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter V, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
      I number several authors among my acquaintance […] and they invariably become all of a doodah when they read a stinker in the press about their latest effort.
    • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter X, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:
      I sat there seething with fury. And after I had seethed for a bit I rose from my chair, took pen in hand and wrote Bobbie a stinker. […] I accused her in set terms of giving me the heave-ho in order that she could mercenarily marry a richer man. I called her a carrot-topped Jezebel whom I was thankful to have got out of my hair. I... Oh, I can't remember what else I said but, as I say, it was a stinker.
  4. (British, slang) Something of poor quality.
    • 2002 April 19, Scott Tobias, “Dark Tide”, in AV Club‎[1]:
      The barely-released stinker Dark Tide continues Stockwell’s fetishistic pattern, coming alive whenever it’s paddling among the sharks off the South African coast and settling in for a long snooze once it gets back on the boat or reaches dry land.
    • 2021 September 30, Ted McCormick, “Steven Pinker, Rational Thinker”, in Slate‎[2]:
      Steven Pinker, Rational Thinker: His new book is a stinker. [title]
    • 2022 October 17, Stuart Heritage, “Now it’s over, let’s come out and say it: The Rings of Power was a stinker”, in The Guardian‎[3]:
      Now it’s over, let’s come out and say it: The Rings of Power was a stinker [title]
  5. Any of several species of large Antarctic petrels which feed on blubber and carrion and have an offensive odour, such as the giant fulmar.
  6. (slang) A chemist.
  7. (Australia, slang) A hot day.
  8. (Australia, slang) A black eye.
  9. (Australia, informal) A western grey kangaroo.
  10. (colloquial) A giant petrel.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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Swedish

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Verb

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stinker

  1. present of stinka

Anagrams

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