smell-smock

English

Alternative forms

• smellsmock, smell-smocke, smellsmocke

Etymology

From smell +‎ smock (“woman's undergarment”).

Noun

smell-smock (plural smell-smocks)

1. (obsolete) A promiscuous man.

   Synonyms: wencher, womanizer; see also Thesaurus:promiscuous man

   Coordinate term: smock-smelling

   • 1604, Thomas Dekker, The Honest Whore, Part 2, act 4, scene 1; Rhys, Ernest, editor, Thomas Dekker‎^[1], unexpurgated edition, London: Vizetelly & Co, 1887, page 247:

     As arrant a smell-smock, for an old muttonmonger as thyself.

2. (British, dialect) A plant, the cuckooflower or lady's smock (Cardamine pratensis).
3. (British, dialect) A plant, the wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella).

References

• Higgins, John (1585), The nomenclator, or remembrancer of Adrianus Iunius physician, diuided in two tomes, conteining proper names and apt termes for all thinges vnder their conuenient titles‎^[2], London: Ralph Newberie and Henrie Denham, page 528b
• Wright, Joseph (1904), The English Dialect Dictionary‎^[3], volume 5, Oxford: Oxford University Press, page 552