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smug - 5 dictionary results

smug

  [smuhg]
Use smug in a Sentence
–adjective, smug⋅ger, smug⋅gest.
1. contentedly confident of one's ability, superiority, or correctness; complacent.
2. trim; spruce; smooth; sleek.
Origin:
1545–55; perh. < MD smuc neat, pretty, nice

Related forms:
smugly, adverb
smugness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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smug   (smŭg)   
adj.   smug·ger, smug·gest
Exhibiting or feeling great or offensive satisfaction with oneself or with one's situation; self-righteously complacent: "the smug look of a toad breakfasting on fat marsh flies" (William Pearson).

[Perhaps akin to Low German smuck, neat, from Middle Low German, from smucken, to adorn.]
smug'ly adv., smug'ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Smug

Smug\, a. [Of. Scand. or Low German origin; cf. LG. smuck, G. schmuck, Dan. smuk, OSw. smuck, sm["o]ck, and E. smock, smuggle; cf. G. schmuck ornament. See Smock.] Studiously neat or nice, especially in dress; spruce; affectedly precise; smooth and prim.

They be so smug and smooth. --Robynson (More's Utopia).

The smug and scanty draperies of his style. --De Quincey.

A young, smug, handsome holiness has no fellow. --Beau. & Fl.

Smug

Smug\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Smugged; p. pr. & vb. n. Smugging.] To make smug, or spruce. [Obs.]

Thus said, he smugged his beard, and stroked up fair. --Dryton.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : smug
Spanish: creído, engreído,
German: selbstgefällig,
Japanese: ひとりよがりの
More Translations »

smug 
1551, "trim, neat, spruce, smart," possibly an alteration of Low Ger. smuk "trim, neat," from M.L.G. smücken "to adorn," and smiegen "to press close" (see smock). The meaning "having a self-satisfied air" is from 1701, an extension of the sense of "smooth, sleek" (1582), which was commonly used of attractive women and girls.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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