Nearby Words

smock

[smok] Origin

smock

[smok]
noun
1.
a loose, lightweight overgarment worn to protect the clothing while working.
verb (used with object)
2.
to clothe in a smock.
3.
to draw (a fabric) by needlework into a honeycomb pattern with diamond-shaped recesses.

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Smock is one of our favorite verbs.
So is peculate. Does it mean:
to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.
to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

Origin:
before 1000; Middle English (noun), Old English smocc; orig. name for a garment with a hole for the head; compare Old Norse smjūga to put on (a garment) over the head

smock·like, adjective
un·smocked, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
smock (smɒk)
 
n
1.  any loose protective garment, worn by artists, laboratory technicians, etc
2.  a woman's loose blouse-like garment, reaching to below the waist, worn over slacks, etc
3.  Also called: smock frock a loose protective overgarment decorated with smocking, worn formerly esp by farm workers
4.  archaic a woman's loose undergarment, worn from the 16th to the 18th centuries
 
vb
5.  to ornament (a garment) with smocking
 
[Old English smocc; related to Old High German smocco, Old Norse smokkr blouse, Middle High German gesmuc decoration]
 
'smocklike
 
adj

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

smock
O.E. smoc "woman's garment," from P.Gmc. *smukkaz (cf. O.N. smokkr, but this is perhaps from O.E., O.H.G. smoccho "smock," a rare word, N.Fris. smok, but this, too, perhaps from Eng.), from PIE base *smeugh- "to press" (cf. O.C.S. smykati se "to creep"). Original notion seems to be "garment one creeps
EXPAND
into," as the word is related to O.N. smjuga "to creep into (a garment)" and O.E. smugan "to creep" and smygel "a burrow." Cf. also Ger. schmiegen "to cling to, to press close, nestle," hence M.H.G. verb smucken, Ger. schmucken "to adorn." Eng. smock was common down to 18c., and was emblematic of womanhood generally, cf. verb smock "to render (a man) effeminate or womanish" (1614); smock-face "person having a pale, effeminate face" (1605). Replaced by euphemistic shift (n.2). Modern meaning "woman's or child's loose dress or blouse" is from 1907; sense of "loose garment worn by artists over other clothes" is from 1938.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

smock

loose, shirtlike garment worn by women in the European Middle Ages under their gowns (also called a chemise). The smock later became a loose, yoked, shirtlike outer garment of coarse linen, used to protect the clothes; it was worn, for example, by fieldworkers in Europe.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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