smear
Use Smear in a sentence
verb (used with object)
1.
to spread or daub (an oily, greasy, viscous, or wet substance) on or over something: to smear butter on bread.
2.
to spread or daub an oily, greasy, viscous, or wet substance on: to smear bread with butter.
3.
to stain, spot, or make dirty with something oily, greasy, viscous, or wet.
4.
to sully, vilify, or soil (a reputation, good name, etc.).
5.
to smudge or blur, as by rubbing: The signature was smeared.
noun
7.
an oily, greasy, viscous, or wet substance, especially a dab of such a substance.
8.
a stain, spot, or mark made by such a substance.
9.
a smudge.
10.
something smeared or to be smeared on a thing, as a glaze for pottery.
11.
a small quantity of something spread thinly on a slide for microscopic examination.
00:10
Smear
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is absquatulate. Does it mean:
| to flee; abscond: |
| to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle. |
Origin:
before 900; (v.) Middle English smeren, smirien to rub with fat, anoint, Old English smirian, smerian, smerwan; cognate with Dutch smeren, German schmieren, Old Norse smyrja, smyrwa; (noun) in current senses derivative of the v.; compare obsolete smear fat, grease, ointment, Middle English smere, Old English smeoru, cognate with Dutch smear, German Schmer, Old Norse smjǫr grease, Greek smýris rubbing powder; see emery
before 900; (v.) Middle English smeren, smirien to rub with fat, anoint, Old English smirian, smerian, smerwan; cognate with Dutch smeren, German schmieren, Old Norse smyrja, smyrwa; (noun) in current senses derivative of the v.; compare obsolete smear fat, grease, ointment, Middle English smere, Old English smeoru, cognate with Dutch smear, German Schmer, Old Norse smjǫr grease, Greek smýris rubbing powder; see emery
Related forms
smear·er, noun
un·smeared, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To smear
Collins
World English Dictionary
smear (smɪə) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —vb | |
| 1. | to bedaub or cover with oil, grease, etc |
| 2. | to rub over or apply thickly |
| 3. | to rub so as to produce a smudge |
| 4. | to slander |
| 5. | slang (US) to defeat completely |
| 6. | (intr) to be or become smeared or dirtied |
| —n | |
| 7. | a dirty mark or smudge |
| 8. | a. a slanderous attack |
| b. (as modifier): smear tactics | |
| 9. | a preparation of blood, secretions, etc, smeared onto a glass slide for examination under a microscope |
| [Old English smeoru (n); related to Old Norse smjör fat, Old High German smero, Greek muron ointment] | |
| 'smearer | |
| —n | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
smear
O.E. smerian "to anoint or rub with grease, oil, etc.," from P.Gmc. *smerthan (cf. O.N. smyrva, Dan. smøre, Swed. smörja, Du. smeren, O.H.G. smirwen, Ger. schmieren "to smear"), from PIE *smeru- "grease" (cf. Gk. myron "unguent, balsam," O.Ir. smi(u)r "marrow," O.E. smeoru "fat, grease").
Sense of "assault a public reputation with unsubstantiated charges" is from 1879. Noun meaning "mark or stain left by smearing" is first recorded 1611; sense of "small quantity prepared for microscopic examination" is from 1903.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary
smear (smēr)
n.
A sample, as of blood or bacterial cells, spread thinly on a slide and usually stained for microscopic examination or applied to the surface of a culture medium.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Slang Dictionary
smear definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Example sentences from the web
Women who had even a single pap smear in their history had a lower incidence of cancer.
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