SMUDGE


Meaning of SMUDGE in English

I. ˈsməj verb

( -ed/-ing/-s )

Etymology: Middle English smogen

transitive verb

1.

a. : to make a blurry splotch or streak (as of dirt) on : begrime , smutch , soil

wiped his brow with his sooty hand, smudging it

b. : to soil as if by smudging

the bright record for child welfare has been smudged occasionally by scandals — American Guide Series: Oregon

2.

a. : to rub, daub, or wipe in a smeary manner

smudging out instead of erasing neatly his first hesitant strokes — Time

b. : to make indistinct : blur

smudge the clean line of the bridges with unnecessary parapets — Times Literary Supplement

careful distinctions are smudged and coarsened — New Statesman & Nation

3.

a. : to smoke by means of a smudge (as in repelling mosquitoes) ; specifically : to protect (an orchard, garden) against frost by means of a smudge — compare orchard heating

b. : to cause (a fire) to smoke heavily

intransitive verb

1.

a. : to make a smudge

chalks that mark easily but do not smudge

they were smudging in the groves — Wright Morris

b. : to burn with little flame and much thick smoke

2. : to become smudged

charcoal drawings smudge easily

II. noun

( -s )

1.

a.

(1) : a blurry spot or streak : splotch , smear

left a smudge at the erasure

smudges made by cheap carbon paper

(2) : an immaterial stain

cleanse him of every last smudge of impropriety — Richard Hanser

b. : a smudged condition : soilage

c. : an indistinct mass : blur

ahead lay a chocolate brown smudge of land, huddled in mist — Gerald Durrell

2.

a. : thick or suffocating smoke : smother

b. or smudge fire : a smoldering mass placed on the windward side (as of a tent) to repel insects or in an orchard or garden to prevent frost

c. : an apparatus for making a smudge fire

3. Britain : plumber's soil

4.

a. : onion smudge

b. : a disease of wheat, rye, and barley caused by fungi of the genera Helminthosporium and Alternaria and characterized by brownish or black discoloration of the grains

5.

a. : a bid of 4 by a player in auction pitch who is not in the hole that if made wins the game forthwith

b. : the winning of all four points in auction pitch ; also : the reward for this which may be a doubled score or the winning of the game

c. : the game of auction pitch when either of the foregoing rules is incorporated

6. : a leukocyte that is degenerating

III. intransitive verb

Etymology: origin unknown

chiefly Scotland : to be quietly and slyly amused : laugh up one's sleeve

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.