pong

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• Rhymes: -ɒŋ

From ping, via the pairing of ping-pong.

pong (plural pongs)

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

Probably from Romani pan (“to stink”).

pong (plural pongs)

1. (Britain, Australia, New Zealand, slang) A stench, a bad smell.
   • 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?’

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

     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!’

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

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

• pongy

pong (third-person singular simple present pongs, present participle ponging, simple past and past participle ponged)

1. (Britain, Australia, New Zealand, slang) To stink, to smell bad.
   • 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.

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

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

   • 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.

2. (slang, acting, derogatory) To deliver a line of a play in an arch, suggestive or unnatural way, so as to draw undue attention to it.

• (stink): reek, smell, stink

pong (plural pongs)

1. (mahjong) Alternative form of pung.