I. ˈsmət, usu -əd.+V verb
( smutted ; smutted ; smutting ; smuts )
Etymology: probably alteration of earlier smot to stain, from Middle English smotten; akin to Middle English -smoteren to soil, stain, Middle High German smutzen, and probably to Greek mydan to be damp — more at moss
transitive verb
1. : to stain or mark with a black or dirty substance (as soot)
2. : to taint or affect with smut or mildew
smutted corn
3. : sully , taint , defile
4. : to clear of smut
smut grain for the mill
intransitive verb
1. : to become affected by smut : become smutted
treated grain will not smut
2. Britain , of fish : to rise at or feed on very small flies
II. noun
( -s )
1.
a.
(1) : a dirty spot or condition : soil
(2) : a patch of black or dark hair on an animal (as on the nose of a Himalayan rabbit)
b. : matter that soils or blackens
her lace curtains … would already be darkened by the smut of soft coal — Lewis Mumford
specifically : a particle of soot
when trains went by the garden was filled with smoke and smuts — David Garnett
2.
a.
(1) : any of various destructive diseases of cereal grasses and some other plants caused by parasitic basidiomycetous fungi of the order Ustilaginales and characterized by the transformation of various plant organs into dark brown or black often dusty masses of spores — see covered smut , flag smut , loose smut
(2) : any fungus producing such a disease
b. : a similar disease of figs caused by an ascomycetous fungus ( Aspergillus niger )
3. : inferior soft coal containing much earthy matter and found especially at the outcrop
4. : material (as jokes, pictures, stories) in which a subject is treated in a manner violating accepted standards of decency : verbal or graphic obscenity : matter felt to be morally fouling
5. Britain : any of various small flies (as the midge, gnat)
6. : a dark slate color appearing in a domesticated bird normally of another color