smut

noun

a particle of soot; sooty matter.

a black or dirty mark; smudge.

indecent language or publications; obscenity.

Plant Pathology.

a disease of plants, especially cereal grasses, characterized by the conversion of affected parts into black, powdery masses of spores, caused by fungi of the order Ustilaginales.

a fungus causing this disease.

verb (used with object)

to soil or smudge.

Relevant Questions

What Is Corn Smut?

What Is Smut·ty?

How To Eradicate Corn Sm...

What Are Smuts?

What Is Corn Smut?

What Are Smuts?

How To Eradicate Corn Sm...

What Is Smut·ty?

00:10

Smut is one of our favorite verbs.

So is bowdlerise. Does it mean:

to chew (food) slowly and thoroughly.

to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.

LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

verb (used without object)

to become affected with smut, as a plant.

Origin:
1580–90; akin to earlier smit (Old English smitte), by association with smudge, smutch

Related forms

an·ti·smut, adjective

un·smut·ted, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source

Link To smut

Collins

World English Dictionary

smut (smʌt)

—n
1.	a small dark smudge or stain, esp one caused by soot
2.	a speck of soot or dirt
3.	something obscene or indecent
4.	a. any of various fungal diseases of flowering plants, esp cereals, in which black sooty masses of spores cover the affected parts
	b. any parasitic basidiomycetous fungus of the order Ustilaginales that causes such a disease
5.	angling a minute midge or other insect relished by trout

—vb , smuts, smutting, smutted
6.	to mark or become marked or smudged, as with soot
7.	to affect (grain) or (of grain) to be affected with smut
8.	(tr) to remove smut from (grain)
9.	(tr) to make obscene
10.	(intr) to emit soot or smut
11.	(intr) angling (of trout) to feed voraciously on smuts

[Old English smitte; related to Middle High German smitze; associated with smudge, smutch]

'smutty

—*adj*

'smuttily

—*adv*

'smuttiness

—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
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

smut

1664, "black mark, stain," from verb smutten "debase, defile" (early 15c.), cognate with M.H.G. smotzen "make dirty," from W.Gmc. *smutt- (cf. M.H.G. smuz "grease, dirt," Ger. Schmutz "dirt," Ger. schmutzen "to make dirty"). The meaning "indecent or obscene language" is first attested 1668 (implied in

smutty).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

American Heritage

Science Dictionary

smut

(smŭt) Pronunciation Key

Any of various bacidiomycete fungi that are parasitic on plants and are distinguished by the black, powdery masses of spores that appear as sooty smudges on the affected plant parts. Smuts are parasitic chiefly on cereal grasses like corn and wheat and can cause enormous damage to crops.
Any of the various plant diseases caused by smuts, such as corn smut.

Example sentences

Corn smut, a fungus, has an unexpected benefit: a surprisingly good flavor.

Information on smut of pearl millet is quite confused in the literature.

Restoring it would require a visit to the police and a written pledge not to text smut again.

Several apparently unique species have been reported or implicated in the cause of smut diseases of pearl millet.

Remove ads like these. Upgrade now!

smirch smutch stripe smut coom corn smut crock

Image for smut

Matching Quote

"It is ... useful to distinguish between the pornographic, condemned in every society, and the bawdy, the ribald, the shared vulgarities and jokes, which are the safety valves of most social systems. Pornography is a most doubtful safety valve. In extreme cases it may feed the perverted imagination of the doomed man who starts by pulling a little girl's braid and ends by cutting off a little girl's head, as each increasing stimulus loses its effectiveness and must be replaced by a more extreme one. This is particularly true of the pornography primarily designed to be brooded over in secret. But is quite otherwise with the music hall jokes, the folk ribaldry at a wedding, the innocent smut of the smoking rooms, where men who are perennially faithful to their wives exchange stories which release explosive laughter. Pornography does not lead to laughter, it leads to deadly serious pursuit of sexual satisfaction divorced from personality and from every other meaning. The uproarious laugh of the group who recognize a common dilemma—the laughter of a group of women at the story of the intractable unborn who refused to budge and merely shivered under the effects of the quart of ice cream hopefully eaten by its poor mother, the laughter of a group of men at the story of the bride who asked to be "frightened" a fourth time—is the laughter of human beings who are making the best of the imperfect social arrangements within which their life here on earth is conducted."

-Margaret Mead