stinker

plural stinkers

1. One who stinks.

   Skunks are the worst stinkers in the animal kingdom.

2. slangA contemptible person or thing.

   "Stop squallin', you little stinker!" She struck the child with her open hand across the face.

   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

   3 more examples

   "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."

   1952, C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

   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.

   1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter II, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC

   When you are colonized by dangerous bacteria their presence in your body does no damage. You become a reservoir for those little stinkers.

   2011, Steven Z. Kussin, Doctor, Your Patient Will See You Now, page 241

   Synonyms: creep, rotter, scoundrel, stinkard

3. slangSomething difficult (e.g. a given puzzle) or unpleasant (e.g. negative review, nasty letter).

   Today's crossword is a stinker.

   2 more examples

   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 V, 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.

   1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter X, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC

   Synonyms: hatchet job, nastygram

4. UKslangSomething of poor quality.

   Steven Pinker, Rational Thinker: His new book is a stinker. [title]

   2021 September 30, Ted McCormick, “Steven Pinker, Rational Thinker”, in Slate

   2 more examples

   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.

   2002 April 19, Scott Tobias, “Dark Tide”, in AV Club, archived from the original on 22 Apr 2012

   Now it’s over, let’s come out and say it: The Rings of Power was 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

   Synonyms: clunker

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. slangA chemist.
7. AustraliaslangA hot day.

   Synonyms: scorcher

8. AustraliaslangA black eye.
9. AustraliainformalA western grey kangaroo.
10. colloquialA giant petrel.
11. colloquialAn eastern long-necked turtle (which emits a foul-smelling musk when threatened).