smear
pronunciation
How to pronounce smear in British English:
UK [smɪə(r)]
How to pronounce smear in American English:
US [smɪr]
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- Noun:
- slanderous defamation
- a thin tissue or blood sample spread on a glass slide and stained for cytologic examination and diagnosis under a microscope
- a blemish made by dirt
- an act that brings discredit to the person who does it
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- Verb:
- stain by smearing or daubing with a dirty substance
- make a smudge on; soil by smudging
- cover (a surface) by smearing (a substance) over it
- charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone
Word Origin
- smear
- smear: [OE] Smear comes from a prehistoric Germanic *smerwjan, which also produced German schmieren, Dutch smeren, Swedish smörja, and Danish smøre. The Swedish and Danish words for ‘butter’, smör and smør, come from the same source (the former is the first element in the compound smörgåsbord ‘opensandwich table’, literally ‘butter goose table’, from which English gets smorgasbord [19]). Also closely related are Irish smir ‘marrow’ and Greek smúris ‘polishing powder’ (source of English emery [15]).=> emery, smorgasbord
- smear (n.)
- "mark or stain left by smearing," 1610s, from smear (v.). Sense of "small quantity prepared for microscopic examination" is from 1903. Meaning "a quantity of cream cheese, etc., smeared on a bagel" is by 1999, from Yiddish shmir. The earliest noun sense in English is "fat, grease, ointment" (c. 1200), from Old English had smeoru "fat, grease," cognate with Middle Dutch smere, Dutch smeer, German Schmer "grease, fat" (Yiddish schmir), Danish smør, Swedish smör "butter."
- smear (v.)
- Old English smerian, smierwan "to anoint or rub with grease, oil, etc.," from Proto-Germanic *smerwjan "to spread grease on" (cognates: Old Norse smyrja "to anoint, rub with ointment," Danish smøre, Swedish smörja, Dutch smeren, Old High German smirwen "apply salve, smear," German schmieren "to smear;" Old Norse smör "butter"), from PIE *smeru- "grease" (cognates: Greek myron "unguent, balsam," Old Irish smi(u)r "marrow," Old English smeoru "fat, grease, ointment, tallow, lard, suet," Lithuanian smarsas "fat"). Figurative sense of "assault a public reputation with unsubstantiated charges" is from 1879. Related: Smeared; smearing. Smear-word, one used regardless of its literal meaning but invested with invective, is from 1938.
Example
- 1. He has called the allegations an attempt to smear him .
- 2. You rarely get a blood smear with hundreds of parasites obvious in it .
- 3. After a while , everything is reduced to an impressionist smear in your head .
- 4. If the chef hasn 't already added wasabi to your sushi , smear it directly onto the fish or roll .
- 5. And what does it feel like , dr. wigand , to lose your wife and children and have every aspect of your personal life up for grabs and interpretation in the middle of a smear ?