smear
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: note: r
enpr: smî
ipa: /smɪə(ɹ)/
enpr: smîr
ipa: /smiɚ/
ipa: /smɪɚ/
rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)
Forms: form: smears
Etymology: From Middle English smeren, smerien, from Old English smerian, smyrian, smierwan (“to anoint or rub with grease, oil, etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *smirwijan, from Proto-Germanic *smirwijaną. Doublet of schmear.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian smeere, Dutch smeren, Low German smeren, German schmieren.
Senses: examples: text: This detergent cleans windows without leaving smears.
text: A smear of decisive lead-coloured paint had been laid on to obliterate Henchard’s name, though its letters dimly loomed through like ships in a fog.
ref: 1886, Thomas Hardy, chapter 8, in The Mayor of Casterbridge, volume 2, London: Smith, Elder, page 108:
text: Vast avalanches had left their dirty smears on the opposing slopes,
ref: 1933, Robert Byron, First Russia, Then Tibet, London: Macmillan, Part 2, Chapter 8:
text: she bought a couple of rolls filled with a thin smear of potted meat for her breakfast
ref: 1952, Nevil Shute, chapter 2, in The Far Country, London: Heinemann:
text: I could see the roofs of the town on the horizon, and farther off and higher up, a tiny silver ship propped motionless on a smear of pale sea.
ref: 2005, John Banville, The Sea, London: Picador, Part 2, p. 228:
synonyms: streak
glosses: A mark made by smearing.
examples: text: smear campaign
text: I should have held him quite beneath my Notice, as is all he utters, but that the Appetite of Slander, in many, is too predominant; and, ’tis possible, when the filthiest Fellow throws a Profusion of Dirt, some may chance to stick, if not timely thrown off; I shall endeavour therefore, to wipe away the sooty Smears of this Chimney-sweeper, by relating a simple Fact, which will, I flatter myself, amply confute the malicious Tales of this unprovoked, rancorous Mortal:
ref: 1752, Theophilus Cibber, A Lick at a Liar, London: R. Griffiths, page 7:
text: “I’d rather not [read the newspaper article]. It’s probably full of falsification and smear. The yellow journalists doubtlessly suggested all sorts of lip-smacking innuendoes.”
ref: 1963 (date written), John Kennedy Toole, chapter 13, in A Confederacy of Dunces, London: Penguin Books, published 1980 (1981 printing), →ISBN, page 289:
synonyms: calumny
slander
slur
mudslinging
glosses: A false or unsupported, malicious statement intended to injure a person's reputation.
topics: biology
natural-sciences
synonyms: squash
glosses: A preparation to be examined under a microscope, made by spreading a thin layer of a substance (such as blood, bacterial culture) on a slide.
examples: text: I'm going to the doctor's this afternoon for a smear.
topics: medicine
sciences
synonyms: cervical smear
Pap test
glosses: A Pap smear (screening test for cervical cancer).
examples: text: In television terms, a certain amount of smear, ringing, and anticipatory overshoot are indigenous to VSB transmission.
ref: 1954, Radio & Television News: Radio-electronic engineering section:
text: Results show the reduction in intelligibility produced by changing the filter condition was much greater than reductions caused by altering smear duration.
ref: 1972, Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports:
topics: broadcasting
media
radio
television
glosses: Any of various forms of distortion that make a signal harder to see or hear.
topics: climbing
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A maneuver in which the shoe is placed onto the holdless rock, and the friction from the shoe keeps it in contact
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A rough glissando in jazz music.
Derived terms: blood smear
cervical smear
leap smear
marrow smear
Papanicolaou smear
pap smear
smear campaign
smear-case
smear case
smear frame
smear test
smeary