smatter
/ˈsmætəɹ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.17 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To hit (someone or something) with a liquid; to splash, to spatter.
American usage; Transitive verb
verb
To approach or study (something, such as a subject) superficially; to dabble in.
Transitive verb
noun
Synonym of smattering.
Example Sentences
- "To ſay the Ieſuites are all ſmattred vvith Atheiſme, I vvill not: and to ſay, that any of them all are abſolutely ſcotfree from it, I cannot: it is ſo repugnant from their ovvne principles."
- "[I]f euer you ſee father Parſons booke of intended Reformation, you vvill finde roome ynough to put in more odious ſtuffe then I haue handled, or am vvilling to ſmatter my pen vvithall."
- "I have smattered law, smattered letters, smattered geography, smattered mathematics; I have even a working knowledge of judicial astrology; and here I stand, all London roaring by at the street's end, as impotent as any baby."
- "The Barber ſmatters latin, I remember."
- "All this, vvithout a Gloſs or Comment, / He vvould unriddle in a moment / In proper terms, ſuch as men ſmatter / VVhen they throvv out and miſs the matter."
- "Smatter'ſt thou Greek ſtill? This tongue does ill grace / An old Trot, […]"
Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English smateren, smatteren, smater, smatere (“to make dirty, defile; to talk idly, chatter; to speak foolishly”); further etymology uncertain, compare the following: * Middle English smotten (“to corrupt, debase, defile”) (whence English smot (obsolete)), related to Late Middle High German smotzen, a variant of smutzen (whence modern German schmutzen (“to become dirty or soiled; to make dirty, soil”)), from smuz (“dirt”). * Danish smadre (“to smash”), German schmettern (“to smash; to resound”) (from Middle High German smetern (“to chatter; to rattle; (dialectal) to make a smacking sound”)); Norwegian Bokmål smadre (“to smash”), Swedish smattra (“to make short, sharp, quickly repeating noises, patter, rattle”), possibly originally onomatopoeic. However, the Oxford English Dictionary says “real connection is very doubtful”. The noun is derived from the verb.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: smateren
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsmætəɹ/
- British English: /ˈsmætə/
Usage
- Obsolete
- Transitive verb
- American usage
- Intransitive verb
Inflected Forms
smatters (present, singular)
smattering (participle, present)
smattered (participle, past)
smattered (past)
no-table-tags (table tags)
glossary (inflection template)
smattered (first person, past)
smatterest (archaic, present)
smattered (past, second person)
smatteredst (archaic, past)
smattereth (archaic, present)
smattered (past, singular)