smut
English
Etymology
From Middle English smutten (“to defile, debase”), related to German Schmutz (“filth, dirt, smut”) and schmutzen (“to make dirty, stain”). This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. Doublet of schmutz.
Compare also Old English smitta (“smear; blot; mark; stain; pollution”), Old English besmītan (“to besmut; defile; dirty; pollute; contaminate”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /smʌt/
Audio (UK) (file)
- Rhymes: -ʌt
Noun
smut (countable and uncountable, plural smuts)
- (uncountable) Soot.
- (countable) A flake of ash or soot.
- 1915, Edgar Jepson, “The Reluctant Duke”, in Happy Pollyooly: The Rich Little Poor Girl, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 16617837, page 135:
- She reached it soon after half-past two. She found its gloomy nineteenth-century façade, black with the smuts of ninety years, a little daunting, and mounted its broad steps in some trepidation. But she rang the bell hard and knocked firmly.
- 1989, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Harry Willetts, transl., August 1914, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 56:
- “You can rely on me!” Varya said, still more earnestly and enthusiastically, still leaning heavily on the counter, noticing briefly and forgetting at once that her bare elbow had crushed a stray smut from the Primus mender's booth.
- 2012, Kasey Michaels, A Masquerade in the Moonlight:
- “Do I have a smut on my nose, Mr. Donovan? You've been staring at me for a full minute. It's most disconcerting, you know.”
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- (uncountable) Sexually vulgar material; something that is sexual in a dirty way; pornographic material.
- (uncountable) Obscene language; ribaldry; obscenity.
- 1711 June 5 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison; Richard Steele [et al.], “FRIDAY, May 25, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 39; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, OCLC 191120697:
- He does not stand upon decency […] but will talk smut, though a priest and his mother be in the room.
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- Any of a range of fungi, mostly Ustilaginomycetes, that cause plant disease in grasses, including cereal crops; the disease so caused.
- (mining) Bad, soft coal containing earthy matter, found in the immediate locality of faults.
Translations
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Verb
smut (third-person singular simple present smuts, present participle smutting, simple past and past participle smutted)
- (transitive, intransitive) To stain (or be stained) with soot or other dirt.
- 1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], 2nd edition, London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], published 1708, OCLC 13320837:
- it bears a very good Crop , and seldom smuts
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- (transitive) To taint (grain, etc.) with the smut fungus.
- 1631, Francis [Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044372886:
- Mildew also falls upon Corn, and smuts it
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- (intransitive) To become tainted by the smut fungus.
- 1836, New England Farmer (volume 14, page 313)
- It smutted to a far greater degree than the year before, say three fourths, or more. I obtained but little more than the seed sown, and that was handsome wheat. This failure I imputed to the same supposed cause which operated the last year.
- 1836, New England Farmer (volume 14, page 313)
- (transitive) To clear of the smut fungus.
- to smut grain for the mill
Irish
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈsˠmˠʊt̪ˠ/
Noun
smut m (genitive singular smuit, nominative plural smuit)
Declension
First declension
Bare forms:
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Forms with the definite article:
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Synonyms
- (rostrum): rostram
Derived terms
- smutach (“stumpy”, adjective)
- smutaireacht f (“(act of) sulking”)
- smután m (“stump; chunk of wood”)
- smutmhadra m (“pug-dog”)
- smutúil (“stumpy”, adjective)
Verb
smut (present analytic smutann, future analytic smutfaidh, verbal noun smutadh, past participle smuta)
Conjugation
singular | plural | relative | autonomous | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
first | second | third | first | second | third | ||||
indicative | present | smutaim | smutann tú; smutair† |
smutann sé, sí | smutaimid | smutann sibh | smutann siad; smutaid† |
a smutann; a smutas | smutar |
past | smut mé; smutas | smut tú; smutais | smut sé, sí | smutamar; smut muid | smut sibh; smutabhair | smut siad; smutadar | a smut / ar smut* |
smutadh | |
past habitual | smutainn | smutá | smutadh sé, sí | smutaimis; smutadh muid | smutadh sibh | smutaidís; smutadh siad | a smutadh / a smutadh* |
smutaí | |
future | smutfaidh mé; smutfad |
smutfaidh tú; smutfair† |
smutfaidh sé, sí | smutfaimid; smutfaidh muid |
smutfaidh sibh | smutfaidh siad; smutfaid† |
a smutfaidh; a smutfas | smutfar | |
conditional | smutfainn | smutfá | smutfadh sé, sí | smutfaimis; smutfadh muid | smutfadh sibh | smutfaidís; smutfadh siad | a smutfadh / a smutfadh* |
smutfaí | |
subjunctive | present | go smuta mé; go smutad† |
go smuta tú; go smutair† |
go smuta sé, sí | go smutaimid; go smuta muid |
go smuta sibh | go smuta siad; go smutaid† |
— | go smutar |
past | dá smutainn | dá smutá | dá smutadh sé, sí | dá smutaimis; dá smutadh muid |
dá smutadh sibh | dá smutaidís; dá smutadh siad |
— | dá smutaí | |
imperative | smutaim | smut | smutadh sé, sí | smutaimis | smutaigí; smutaidh† |
smutaidís | — | smutar | |
verbal noun | smutadh | ||||||||
past participle | smuta |
* Indirect relative
† Archaic or dialect form
Further reading
- Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “smut”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN