smidgen
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsmɪd͡ʒɪn/
ipa: /ˈsmɪd͡ʒɪn/
ipa: /-ən/
rhymes: -ɪdʒɪn
rhymes: -ɪdʒən
Forms: form: smidgens
form: smidgeon
form: smidgin
Etymology: Origin uncertain; possibly from smitch (“(originally Scotland, chiefly US) very small amount or quantity”) + possibly -in (a variant of -ing (suffix forming nouns denoting things considered collectively)). Smitch is possibly:
* derived from smitch (“smoke from a burning or smouldering thing; spot of dirt; blemish; dirt, grime”), a variant of smeech (“(southwest England) (dense or pungent) smoke; airborne dust”), from Middle English smeche, smek, smiche (“smoke from a burning or smouldering thing; cloud of smoke; fumes, vapour; smell”), from Old English smēc, smīc (“smoke; steam; vapour”), from Proto-West Germanic *smauki (“smoke”), related to Proto-Germanic *smeukaną (“to fume, smoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *smewgʰ- (“smoke”); or
* borrowed from Scots smitch (“smudge, stain; blemish; very small amount, speck, trace; small insignificant person”), possibly a variant of English smutch (“dirty mark, smudge, stain; dirt, grime; slight indication”) (probably related to smudge, ultimate etymology unknown) and influenced by English smit (“(UK, dialectal) a stain”).
Senses: examples: text: Move it a smidgen to the right.
text: Would you like some more cake? ―I’ll have a smidgen.
text: Unkle Will says when he tould her to mind the siggering in the Crock,—she run to the Spence for a smidgen of skalded cream.
ref: [1824], Robin Baragwaneth [pseudonym], The Wooden Horse, for the Rounder, and the Horse without a Head. […], Penzance, Cornwall: […] J. Thomas, →OCLC, page 10:
text: It's jest a meracle we wa'n't all blowed to smidgens, the hull b'ilin' lot of us.
ref: 1889 February, “The Pipeses’ Party”, in Frank Leslie’s Pleasant Hours. Devoted to Light and Entertaining Literature, volume XLVI, New York, N.Y.: Mrs. Frank Leslie [Miriam Leslie], […], →OCLC, page 473, column 2:
text: He didn't look the least smidgen like our Mart Mayo, but if they was both on the track in a lyin match, whilst he might not beat old Mart, I am satisfied he would make the track devilish dusty for a few heats anyhow.
ref: 1898, Francis Bartow Lloyd, “The Farmer and the Broncho”, in Lily C. Lloyd, editor, Sketches of Country Life: Humor, Wisdom and Pathos from the “Sage of Rocky Creek” […], Birmingham, Ala.: Press of Roberts & Son, →OCLC, page 80:
text: I could listen to forty million men like this candidate expound his views and it wouldn't alter me one smidgen in the belief that Carson Dwight has acted only as a true Christian would.
ref: 1907 September, Will[iam] N[athaniel] Harben, chapter XXXVII, in Mam’ Linda […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 304:
text: Aw right, you go right in and tell 'em the truth, all of it, every last smidgen.
ref: 1921, William Patterson White, “The Showdown”, in The Heart of the Range, Garden City, N.Y.; Toronto, Ont.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 187:
text: ['][T]he girl's a pill like Phyllis, who always does what Daddy tells her.' / 'No will of her own?' / 'Not a smidgeon.[']
ref: 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter 4, in Jeeves in the Offing, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1963 (1975 printing), →OCLC, page 37:
synonyms: word: drop
word: pinch
word: smidge
word: smidget
word: smidgy
word: smitch
word: touch
word: ace
word: tinge
word: atom
word: trace element
word: aught
word: bissel
word: bit
word: crumb
word: glimpse
word: dab
word: damn
word: dash
word: diddly
word: glint
word: dot
word: spatter
word: drop
word: dusting
word: fleck
word: hint
word: flip
word: flyspeck
word: grain
word: halfpennyworth
word: inch
word: iota
word: jot
word: lick
word: mite
word: modicum
word: molecule
word: morceau
word: morsel
word: mote
word: ooch
word: ounce
word: particle
word: pennyworth
word: piece
word: pinch
word: scantling
word: semblance
word: scent
word: scintilla
word: scooch
word: scrap
word: scruple
word: shred
word: skerrick
word: skoosh
word: skosh
word: sliver
word: smattering
word: smidge
word: smidgen
word: smidget
word: smidgy
word: smitch
word: smithereen
word: soupçon
word: spark
word: speck
word: speckle
word: spot
word: sprinkle
word: sprinkling
word: strain
word: tad
word: tidbit
word: tidge
word: tittle
word: toddick
word: touch
word: trace
word: trifle
word: tuppence worth
word: vestige
word: whiff
word: whit
antonyms: word: modicum
glosses: Chiefly in the form a smidgen of: a very small amount or quantity; a bit, a trace.
examples: text: In fifty years, did you ever have a vacation, you little, silly, half-pint, smidgin of a wife?
ref: 1952 September 19, John Steinbeck, chapter 23, in East of Eden, New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, →OCLC, book 3, section 3, page 289:
text: Lucille wore one of those little smidgins of hats held on by inturned combs.
ref: 1962 July, John Steinbeck, “Part 1”, in Travels with Charley in Search of America, London: William Heinemann, published 1962, →OCLC, page 106:
synonyms: word: dwarf
word: midget
word: pipsqueak
word: shorty
word: absolute zero
word: also-ran
word: chopped liver
word: cipher
word: crumb
word: Joe Nobody
word: little guy
word: minnow
word: nebbish
word: nobody
word: no one
word: nothing
word: nothingburger
word: nonentity
word: picayune
word: pip-squeak
word: pleb
word: peon
word: prole
word: puny
word: quidam
word: rinky-dink
word: shrimp
word: wankstain
word: zero
word: zilch
antonyms: word: dwarf
word: elf
word: midget
word: worthless person
word: little guy
word: nonentity
word: peasant
word: peon
word: pleb
word: plebe
word: prole
word: shrimp
glosses: Chiefly in the form a smidgen of a: a very small or insignificant person or thing; also, an instance of such a person or thing.
Derived terms: word: a smidgen