smatter
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English smateren, smatteren, smater, smatere (“to make dirty, defile; to talk idly, chatter; to speak foolishly”); further etymology uncertain, compare the following:
* Middle English smotten (“to corrupt, debase, defile”) (whence English smot (obsolete)), related to Late Middle High German smotzen, a variant of smutzen (whence modern German schmutzen (“to become dirty or soiled; to make dirty, soil”)), from smuz (“dirt”).
* Danish smadre (“to smash”), German schmettern (“to smash; to resound”) (from Middle High German smetern (“to chatter; to rattle; (dialectal) to make a smacking sound”)); Norwegian Bokmål smadre (“to smash”), Swedish smattra (“to make short, sharp, quickly repeating noises, patter, rattle”), possibly originally onomatopoeic. However, the Oxford English Dictionary says “real connection is very doubtful”.
The noun is derived from the verb.
Inflected forms:
form: smatters
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: smattering
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: smattered
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: smattered
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: smatter
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: smatter
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: smattered
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: smatter
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: smatterest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: smattered
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: smatteredst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: smatters
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: smattereth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: smattered
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: smatter
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: smattered
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: smatter
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: smattered
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: smatter
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: smattering
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: smattered
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: smatters
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: To make (someone or something) dirty; to bespatter, to soil.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
obsolete
transitive
examples: To ſay the Ieſuites are all ſmattred vvith Atheiſme, I vvill not: and to ſay, that any of them all are abſolutely ſcotfree from it, I cannot: it is ſo repugnant from their ovvne principles.
[I]f euer you ſee father Parſons booke of intended Reformation, you vvill finde roome ynough to put in more odious ſtuffe then I haue handled, or am vvilling to ſmatter my pen vvithall.
gloss: To hit (someone or something) with a liquid; to splash, to spatter.
pos: verb
tags: US
broadly
transitive
gloss: To approach or study (something, such as a subject) superficially; to dabble in.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: I have smattered law, smattered letters, smattered geography, smattered mathematics; I have even a working knowledge of judicial astrology; and here I stand, all London roaring by at the street's end, as impotent as any baby.
gloss: To speak (a language or words) with only a superficial knowledge of it.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: The Barber ſmatters latin, I remember.
All this, vvithout a Gloſs or Comment, / He vvould unriddle in a moment / In proper terms, ſuch as men ſmatter / VVhen they throvv out and miſs the matter.
Smatter'ſt thou Greek ſtill? This tongue does ill grace / An old Trot, […]
He smattered words in not a few foreign languages.
The languages of Polynesia are easy to smatter, though hard to speak with elegance.
gloss: To hit with a liquid; to splash, to spatter.
pos: verb
tags: US
intransitive
gloss: To have a slight, superficial knowledge of something; to dabble.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
examples: He ſmattereth a lytell of the lawe: […]
gloss: To talk ignorantly or superficially; to babble, to chatter.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
obsolete
examples: How Cownterfet Cowntenaunce of the new get / With Crafty Conueyauance dothe smater and flater, / And Cloked Collucyoun is brought in to clater / With Courtely Abusyoun; […]
For I abhore to smatter / Of one so deuyllysshe a matter.
What ſtandyſt thou there⸝ all the day ſmatterynge
And vvhy my lady vviſedome? hold your tung, / Good prudence ſmatter vvith your goſſips, goe.
For Poets, Lavv makes no Proviſion: / The VVealthy have you in deriſion. / Of State-Affairs you cannot ſmatter, / Are avvkvvard vvhen you try to flatter.
gloss: Synonym of smattering.
pos: noun
examples: [A]ll other Sciences, they vvere in a manner extinguiſh'd during the Courſe of this Empire, excepting only a Smatter of Judicial Aſtrology, by vvhich, under the Name of Chaldeans, ſome of that Race long amazed ignorant and credulous People.
gloss: Synonym of smattering.
pos: noun
examples: a smatter of applause
[H]e can pray, and tell long Scrifts of Greek, / And broken Smatters of the Hebrevv ſpeak; / And in the Latin he is nicely read; / Can ſcrape and jouk; then is not he vvell bred?
Derived words: smatterer
smattering
smatteringly
smattery
smatter-hauling
Translations:
lang: Czech
word: fušovat
lang: Czech
word: zabývat se amatérsky
lang: Finnish
word: harrastella
lang: Finnish
word: puuhastella
lang: German
word: dilettieren
lang: German
word: versuchen (an etwas)