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Glite Dictionary
to stink up the place

to stink up the place

3 7.5
Make a place smell very bad
  • phrasal verb
: apestar el lugar
  • The overflowing garbage bin is starting to stink up the place.

Examples

  • I followed Baby Doll to the kitchen where a pot of boiling chitlins stunk up the place.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Don't stink up the place.

    Fiction book (1997)

  • You make me an officer and give me some money... ...or, by God, I'll stink up the place.

    Walker (1987)

  • I better get this in the ground before it stinks up the place.

    20 Years After (2008)

  • You're starting to stink up the place.

    Prince of the City (1981)

  • You don't want me stinking up the place.

    King Neptune (1932)

  • It’s starting to stink up the place.

    Big (1988)

  • What we ought to do is get some cat litter so that Betty can't claim Hogan stunk up the place and keep his two-month rental deposit on him.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The stale food left out overnight really began to stink up the place.

  • If we don't take out the trash soon, it will stink up the place.

Synonyms

to stink up
vsto stink up the place
22 4.8

Make a place smell very bad

is the same meaning but adds an explicit location phrase
to smell up
vsto stink up the place
4 7.5

Make a place or thing smell bad

limits the idea to making a location smell unpleasant rather than objects alone
to stink out
vsto stink up the place
1 6.7

To fill a place with a very bad smell

focuses more on causing an area to smell rather than the source object

Antonyms

to air out
9 3.0

Open something so wind from outside moves through it to remove bad smells or moisture

How Smelly

to stink to high heaven
  • Informal
5 8.1
to stink up the place
3 7.5
to stink
157 1.0
to smell
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

stink up the place infinitive
stinking up the place present participle
stinks up the place third person singular
stank up the place past
stunk up the place past participle

Morphology

stink + up + the + place

The meaning 'to cause a location to smell unpleasant' is directly derivable from combining 'stink' (give off an unpleasant odor) with the particle 'up' (a common causative/intensifying particle) plus 'place' (location). This verb+particle composition follows a transparent causative pattern in English that a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer.

Etymology

Stink up the place gives a simple picture: something with a strong bad smell, like burnt popcorn or old garbage, seems to stink and rise up into the air, filling the place. That's why it means 'to cause a place to smell very bad'.