pong

plural pongs

1. CommonwealthIrelandUKslangA stench, a bad smell.

   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!’

   4 more examples

   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.

   1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 21

   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.

   1998, Catherine Fox, Heaven′s Scent: Third Way, page 13

   If you want to empty a crowded room strong body pong will usually do the trick.

   2009, Martin Fine, The Devil′s Fragrance, page 109

present singular third person pongs · participle present ponging · participle past ponged · past ponged

1. CommonwealthIrelandUKslangTo stink, to smell bad.

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

   4 more examples

   “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?”

   1970, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 174

   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.

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

   2010, Robin Easton, Naked in Eden: My Adventure and Awakening in the Australian Rainforest, page 63

   2011, Victor Pemberton, We′ll Sing at Dawn, 2012, eBook, Headline Publishing, unnumbered page, […] and this evening, Eileen Perkins′s daughter Rita ponged with the smell of cheap carbolic soap, after a late-afternoon visit to the public baths down Hornsey Road.

   Synonyms: reek, smell, stink

2. derogatoryslangentertainmentTo deliver a line of a play in an arch, suggestive or unnatural way, so as to draw undue attention to it.
3. intransitiveslangentertainmentTo 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."

   2016, Jim Davis, European Theatre Performance Practice, 1750–1900

plural pongs

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

plural pongs

1. alternativeboard gamesAlternative form of pung.

1. video gamesAn early video game from Atari, resembling ping-pong, in which two players control paddles and attempt to intercept a ball.

   A good lunar lander or Pong-type game was all you needed to strike it rich!

   2002, André LaMothe, Tricks of the Windows game programming gurus, page 10

   2 more examples

   If the US invades Iraq, we'll see action all right, much more than we witnessed with the primitive Pong-ish effects delivered during Gulf War 1.0,

   2003 March 1, “Gulf War 2.0: The Son Strikes Back”, in Toronto Star

   The paddle controllers are necessary for playing Pong-style contests, and since two paddles share one controller input you can easily play doubles Pong with an extra set of paddles.

   2006, Chris Kohler, Retro gaming hacks, page 10