pong

noun

1. 1

   slangA stench, a bad smell.

   Carrot ran past him to get to the barrel first, and peered down at the cowering Catweazle. “No rats, Dad,” he said. “What's that terrible pong, then?” said Mr Bennett, sniffing.

   1992, Bryce Courtenay, Tandia, Volume 1, 2011, Read How You Want, page 109, She sniffed, squiffing up her nose. ‘What a pong! Do they all smell like this?’

   I can remember calling round once and when she answered the door I was greeted by an unmistakable, noxious pong. “I can smell gas!” I said. “Oh, have I left the ring on?” she asked vaguely.

   2000, Susan Sallis, 2011, unnumbered page, ‘I see what you mean about the pong. I couldn′t smell it on myself but I can smell it on you!’

verb

1. 1

   slangTo stink, to smell bad.

   “Give them a drink of this and thy father shall see them as they are. They shall speak from their black hearts.” “Pongs a bit,” sniffed Carrot. “Sure it's not poisonous?”

   1997, Taufiq Ismail, David M. E. Roskies (translator and editor), Stop Thief!, Black Clouds Over the Isle of Gods and Other Modern Indonesian Short Stories, page 97, On she walked at a crawling pace, ponging of sweat, drops of mucus and blood falling between her feet.

   2009, Susan Brocker, Saving Sam, HarperCollins, New Zealand, unnumbered page, The place ponged, like the smell of stale cat pee.

   “[…]That toothless bloke ponged. Couldn′t you smell him? He smelled like a bloody pub floor at closing time.”

2. 2

   slangTo deliver a line of a play in an arch, suggestive or unnatural way, so as to draw undue attention to it.

3. 3

   slangTo invent a line of dialogue when one has forgotten the actual line.

   […] and the “good old crusted” actor, forgetting the lines of the author, used without compunction to cover his discomfiture by inventing a text of his own–an achievement known as "ponging."

noun

1. 1

   A packet sent in reply to a ping, thereby indicating the presence of a host.

noun

1. 1

   Variant of pungAlternative form of pung.

Forms

plural

pongs

past tense

ponged

past participle

ponged

present participle

ponging

third person singular

pongs