stinker

English

Etymology

stink +‎ -er

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈstɪŋ.kə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈstɪŋ.kɚ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪŋkə(ɹ)

Noun

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:

     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:

     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:

     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

• (a person who stinks): stinkard
• (a contemptible person): creep, rotter, scoundrel, stinkard
• (something difficult or unpleasant): hatchet job, nastygram
• (something of poor quality): clunker

Derived terms

• wanker (fish)

Related terms

• stink

Translations

Anagrams

• Inkster, Kinters, Kirsten, Kistner, Kristen, reknits, skinter, striken, tinkers

Swedish

Verb

stinker

1. present of stinka

Anagrams

• Kerstin, kristen, kristne, skrinet