SMEAR • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Smear

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/smɪr/ Listen

noun

Smear n.

1.

A fat, oily substance; oinment.

2.

Hence, a spot made by, or as by, an unctuous or adhesive substance; a blot or blotch; a daub; a stain. "Slow broke the morn, All damp and rolling vapor, with no sun, But in its place a moving smear of light."

verb

Smear v. t. (past & past part. smeared; pres. part. smearing)

1.

To overspread with anything unctuous, viscous, or adhesive; to daub; as, to smear anything with oil. "Smear the sleepy grooms with blood."

2.

To soil in any way; to contaminate; to pollute; to stain morally; as, to be smeared with infamy.

3.

To smudge, blur, or render indistinct (writing, pictures, etc.).

4.

To vilify (a person); to damage (a person's reputation), especially falsely or by unfair innuendo, and with malicious intent.

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Etymology of 'Smear'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Smear" Quotes from Famous Books

... I'll call her to the stand and cinch the case! She won't even know who called her! Perhaps I can arrange with Judge Babson to call her on some other point and then pretend to sort of stumble onto the fact of the confession and examine her himself. That would let us out. I can smear it over somehow." ...

— By Advice of Counsel • Arthur Train

... of the pavilion and whispering, with a Reese-like smirk, that her dress gaped behind and that there was a stain on the flounce. Rilla rushed miserably to the room in the lighthouse which was fitted up for a temporary ladies' dressing-room, and discovered that the stain was merely a tiny grass smear and that the gap was equally tiny where a hook had pulled loose. Irene Howard fastened it up for her and gave her some over-sweet, condescending compliments. Rilla felt flattered by Irene's condescension. She was an Upper Glen ...

— Rilla of Ingleside • Lucy Maud Montgomery

... came out of the pressroom with a bundle of papers under his arm, the roar of the presses providing a background for his chant. "Extra! Read All About It! Spindrifters Smear Smugglers! Seaman Shows Shootin' Savvy! Simple Sap Scampers, Saves Skin! ...

— Smugglers' Reef • John Blaine

... shouts; But the temple was full "inside and out," And a buzz kept buzzing all round about Like bees when the day is sunny— A buzz universal that interfered With the right that ought to have been revered, As if the couple already were smear'd ...

— The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood • Thomas Hood

... it all out of him like other women do I could often have written out a fine cheque for myself and write his name on it for a couple of pounds a few times he forgot to lock it up besides he wont spend it Ill let him do it off on me behind provided he doesnt smear all my good drawers O I suppose that cant be helped Ill do the indifferent l or 2 questions Ill know by the answers when hes like that he cant keep a thing back I know every turn in him Ill tighten my bottom well and let out a few smutty words ...

— Ulysses • James Joyce

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