Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To soil or stain.
- noun A stain or spot of dirt.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To blacken with smoke, soot, or the like; smudge.
- noun A black spot; a black stain; a smudge.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A stain; a dirty spot.
- transitive verb To blacken with smoke, soot, or coal.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
soil ,stain orsmudge - noun A stain, smudge or
blot
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make a smudge on; soil by smudging
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Strether felt HIS character receive for the instant a smutch from all the wrong things he had suspected or believed.
The Ambassadors 2003
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Item, in another he had a little leather bottle full of old oil, wherewith, when he saw any man or woman in a rich new handsome suit, he would grease, smutch, and spoil all the best parts of it under colour and pretence of touching them, saying, This is good cloth; this is good satin; good taffeties!
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel 2002
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Item, in another he had a little leather bottle full of old oil, wherewith, when he saw any man or woman in a rich new handsome suit, he would grease, smutch, and spoil all the best parts of it under colour and pretence of touching them, saying, This is good cloth; this is good satin; good taffeties!
Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel 2002
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Against this grisly, dark smutch the whites of the man's eyes stood out like sculpted marbles.
Dirge Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 2000
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I detected a smutch of yellowish paint upon it, nothing more.
The Darrow Enigma Melvin Linwood Severy
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When I find a slut asleep, I smutch her face if it be clean; but if it be dirty, I wash it in the next piss pot that I can find: the balls I use to wash such sluts withal is a sow's pancake or a pilgrim's salve.
The Sources and Analogues of 'A Midsummer-night's Dream' Compiled by Frank Sidgwick
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"See what you're doing, Steve!" he cried, pointing at the oily smutch.
Golden Days for Boys and Girls, Vol. XIII, Nov. 28, 1891 Various
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Through the smoke and smutch which stained the canvas was seen a gray-haired, saintly woman's head.
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 12, No. 32, November, 1873 Various
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They were alert, well-muscled; their faces were streaked with paleness and a black smutch like dancers made up for a masquerade.
Tramping on Life Kemp, Harry, 1883-1960 1922
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They were alert, well-muscled; their faces were streaked with paleness and a black smutch like dancers made up for a masquerade.
Tramping on Life An Autobiographical Narrative Harry Kemp 1921
vendingmachine commented on the word smutch
Can't say I've used or even heard of this word.
November 15, 2022