Smelled very badly or strongly; or gave off or emitted, especially smoke or vapor.
From Old English 'recan' and related to 'reek' (smoke), originally meaning 'to smoke or steam.' The sense of foul smell developed from the unpleasant smells of smoke.
Reek originally just meant smoke—it's only after centuries of poorly ventilated medieval halls full of fire smoke that 'reek' became synonymous with terrible smells.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.