SMEAR • DICCIONARIO INGLES.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

... friend with Barnaby's mother. He knew the Maypole story of the widow Rudge—how her husband, employed at Chigwell, and his master had been murdered; and how her son, born upon the very day the deed was known, bore upon his wrist a smear of blood but half ...

— The World's Greatest Books, Vol III • Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton, Eds.

... the people coming back from the fair. Shut the door, Mary; I wouldn't like them to see how bare the house is; and I'll put a smear of ashes on the window, the way they won't see ...

— Poets and Dreamers - Studies and translations from the Irish • Lady Augusta Gregory and Others

... too pleased to crumple up a crape frill and to smear a black dress with sticky little fingers for the sake of the sugar which Hetty plied ...

— A World of Girls - The Story of a School • L. T. Meade

... trodden places, bent and broken blades of the coarse grass, and ever and again the sufficient intimation of a footmark. And once the leader saw a brown smear of blood where the half-caste girl may have trod. And at that under his breath he ...

— Twelve Stories and a Dream • H. G. Wells

... Chief ordered him to throw away his now ragged garments, smear his whole body over with oil and red earth, paint black spots on his cheeks, and a white streak down his nose, and put on warrior's costume. In vain Jarwin begged and protested and sang. The Big Chief's blood was up, and his commands must be obeyed, therefore Jarwin did as he was ...

— Jarwin and Cuffy • R.M. Ballantyne

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