smear
/smiɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.46 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To spread (a substance, especially one that colours or is dirty) across a surface by rubbing.
Transitive verb
verb
To damage someone's reputation by slandering, misrepresenting, or otherwise making false accusations about them, their statements, or their actions.
Derogatory; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "The artist smeared paint over the canvas in broad strokes."
- "In general, all bodies whose surfaces are even will […] stick to each other, and if a liquid be smeared over either surface, their cohesion will be still the stronger."
- "Then again these figures take no account of the thousands of beggars who travel free in India. Many of these are religious "Sadhus", dressed often in nothing but a loin-cloth, or even less, and their bodies smeared with ashes. A large number of these men are nothing but impostors, but the Hindu railway staff usually are afraid to interfere with them."
- "A person smeared with the excrement of a mouse was rendered impotent, according to Pliny the Elder."
- "Then you would kneel and smear a handful of pomade through my hair, comb it over."
- "She smeared her lips with lipstick."
Etymology
From Middle English smeren, smerien, from Old English smerian, smyrian, smierwan (“to anoint or rub with grease, oil, etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *smirwijan, from Proto-Germanic *smirwijaną. Doublet of schmear. Cognate with Saterland Frisian smeere, Dutch smeren (“to smear, lubricate”), Low German smeren, German schmieren (“to smear, lubricate”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål smøre (“to lubricate”), Norwegian Nynorsk smørja (“to lubricate”), Swedish smörja (“to grease”), Faroese and Icelandic smyrja.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: smeren, smerian, *smirwijan, *smirwijaną
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /smiɚ/
- British English: /smɪə(ɹ)/