smutn.
/smʌt/, U.S. /smət/ 1.
a. A fungous disease affecting various plants, esp. cereals, which are spoiled by the grain being wholly or partly converted into a blackish powder; also, one or other of the fungi (species of Ustilagineæ) causing the disease.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > disease or injury > [noun] > type of disease > fungal > associated with crop or food plants > smut or smutty condition
ustilago1578
smit1585
smutting1621
smuttiness1659
smut1665
bragc1682
burnt-eara1722
slain1788
dust-brand1850
stinking rust1861
stinking bunt1889
loose smut1890
stinking smut1891
dust1897
the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > poisonous or harmful plants > harmful or parasitic fungi > [noun] > causing disease in plants > smut fungus
smut1665
slain1703
blacks1844
ustilago1857
1665 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 1 93 Meldew, Blasting, Smut.
1669 J. Worlidge Systema Agriculturæ (1681) 214 Smut seems to proceed from the same cause.
a1722 E. Lisle Observ. Husbandry (1757) 132 Such grain was apt to carry a smut.
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) IV. 388 This is the Smut, so frequently found upon the ears of different sorts of growing corn, and also upon grasses.
1834 Brit. Husbandry (Libr. Useful Knowl.) I. 379 The practice of steeping seed-wheat..applies rather to smut, than to rust or mildew.
1875 H. C. Wood Treat. Therapeutics (1879) 555 The Smut of Indian Corn (Ustilago maidis) appears to have active medicinal properties.
b. A smutted grain. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > disease or injury > [noun] > type of disease > fungal > associated with crop or food plants > smut or smutty condition > grain affected by
slain1703
smut-ball1745
smut1799
1799 Hull Advertiser 23 Feb. 1/1 These machines..do not crush the smuts or bunt in wheat.
2. A black mark or stain; a smudge. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > soiled condition > [noun] > dirty mark
smitOE
soil1501
smutch1530
sullya1616
smitch1638
smut1664
smircha1688
moil1818
high-water mark1847
smouch1873
tide-mark1907
1664 H. More Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity 474 That there is not the least smutt of Antichristianism in Episcopacy itself.
1669 A. Woodhead tr. Life St. Teresa (1671) ii. ii. 12 All that is fair..in this world, is but a smut with a cole.
1830 ‘B. Moubray’ Domest. Poultry 163 The smut consists of a black spot on the side of the rabbit's nose.
1861 Fraser's Mag. June 772 A black mark on his [sc. a rabbit's] nose, which is called a butterfly smut.
3. Coal Mining. Bad, soft, earthy coal.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > coal or types of coal > [noun] > small, refuse, impure, or coal-dust
slackc1440
smith coal1466
smithy coal1482
coal dusta1529
panwood1531
smith's coal1578
kirving1599
culm1603
coom1611
small coal1643
smit1670
smut1686
slag1695
duff1724
duff coal1724
small1780
gum1790
stinking coal1803
cobbles1811
nubbling1825
stinkers1841
rubble1844
pea1855
nuts1857
nut coal1861
slap1865
burgee1867
smudge1883
waste1883
treble1901
coal smut1910
gumming1938
nutty slack1953
1686 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Staffs. iii.146 Above ground they look for a smut as they call it, i.e. a friable black earth.
1796 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) II. 51 Smut seems also a variety of this species [sc. inflammable mineral carbon], but more impure.
1799 R. Kirwan Geol. Ess. 292 The uppermost seam of coal is commonly soft and dusty, it is vulgarly called smut.
1806 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 96 346 Smoot and Fire Clay.
1829 S. Glover Hist. County of Derby I. 59 Measures of strata:..Soft coal or smut 2 ft. 10 in.
1860– in mining glossaries.
4.
a. Soot or sooty matter.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > [noun] > grime, soot, or coal dirt
sootc725
smitchc1330
culmc1440
coom1587
coal slack1612
grime1612
crock1657
fuliginosity1662
collow1675
smut1693
colly1708
smutch1791
brook1825
stokers1899
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > products of burning > [noun] > soot
sootc725
fuligo?a1425
soodc1430
culmc1440
coom1587
fuliginosity1662
collow1675
smut1693
colly1708
1693 J. Dryden tr. Juvenal in J. Dryden et al. tr. Juvenal Satires vi. 96 The steam of Lamps still hanging on her Cheeks: In Ropy Smut.
1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 45 Spotted down the Cheeks with white Clay, and some black Streaks of Smut.
1790 E. Burke Let. to Noble Lord in Wks. VIII. 97 Our most salutary and most beautiful institutions yield nothing but dust and smut.
1846 W. S. Landor Imaginary Conversat. in Wks. II. 91/1 The furnace is mere smut, and no bellows to blow the embers.
1893 Scribner's Mag. June 778/1 The remotest articles of furniture are rife with infinitesimal smut.
b. A particle of sooty matter.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > [noun] > grime, soot, or coal dirt > particle of
bleck1599
black1607
smit1763
isel1786
smut1803
blacklet1861
soot1906
the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > products of burning > [noun] > soot > particle of
bleck1599
smit1763
blacka1774
smut1803
blacklet1861
soot1906
1803 R. Southey Select. from Lett. (1856) I. 375 That cursed composition of smoke, dust, smuts, human breath, and marsh vapour.
1849 E. Bulwer-Lytton Caxtons III. xiv. ii. 9 A joyous dance of those monads, called vulgarly smuts.
1894 A. I. Ritchie Chapters from Mem. viii. 106 A lady sitting with an umbrella in the drizzle of rain and falling smuts from the funnel.
c. A very minute insect.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > [noun] > member of > small
miteOE
minta1500
water-parrot1772
nigget1875
smut1899
1899 Daily News 28 Dec. 6/4 A trout..grubs in the weeds, chases larvæ, and revels in almost invisible smuts.
5. Indecent or obscene language.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > [noun] > profane language
swarec1200
shit-wordc1275
words of villainya1300
filtha1400
reveriec1425
bawdry1589
scurrility1589
bawdy1622
tongue-worm1645
borborology1647
Billingsgatry1673
double entendre1673
smut1698
blackguardism1756
slang1805
epithet1818
dirty word1842
French1845
language1855
bad languagec1863
bestiality1879
swear-word1883
damson-tart1887
comminative1888
double entente1895
curse-word1897
bang-words1906
soldier's farewell1909
strong languagea1910
dirty story1912
dirty joke1913
bullocky1916
shitticism1936
Anglo-Saxonism1944
sweary1994
1698 J. Collier Short View Immorality Eng. Stage i. 6 The Modern Poets seem to use Smut as the old Ones did Machines, to relieve a fainting Invention.
1706 tr. J. B. Morvan de Bellegarde Refl. upon Ridicule 206 'Tis a miserable way of Pleasing, to scatter Smut in all your Stories.
1762 O. Goldsmith Citizen of World I. xlviii. 213 The gentlemen talked smut, the ladies laughed, and were angry.
1821 W. Scott Kenilworth I. ii. 44 Drunken freaks, and drunken quarrels, and smut, and blasphemy.
1858 T. Carlyle Hist. Friedrich II of Prussia II. vi. iv. 54 Discourse of a cheerful or of a serious nature,..and not the least smut permitted.
1886 Spectator 4 Dec. 1621 The public must have titles, or smut, or murder, and wishes in its heart always to have two of them together.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > furnace or kiln > furnace > [noun]
oveneOE
furnacea1225
chimney1340
fire-stock1440
firework1606
fire room1657
firehole1682
poil1756
smut1819
blast-pot1887
society > occupation and work > equipment > receptacle or container > vessel > vessel in which liquid is boiled > [noun] > cauldron > made of copper
copper1667
copper-back1743
smut1819
1819 J. H. Vaux New Vocab. Flash Lang. in Memoirs II. 207 Smut, a copper boiler, or furnace.
Compounds
C1. attributive, as (sense 1) smut bag, smut corn, smut fungus, smut mill, smut machine, smut spore, etc.; (sense 5) smut book, smut-note; smut shop, etc.; smut-hunting adj.
ΚΠ
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 361. ¶13 He teaches the Smut-note, the Fustian-note, the Stupid-note.
1731 in 6th Rep. Deputy Keeper Public Rec. App. ii. 119 A new Machine for cleaning Wheat..is contrived to take away the stains, smut bags, and other trumpery.
1790 Trans. Soc. Arts 8 32 Wheat, sown too long on the same spot, without changing the seed, will generally become smutt and hen-corn.
1818 Niles' Reg. 15 80/1 A smutt mill, for cleaning wheat of smut, is in operation at Plattsburg.
1850 Mary Wedlake's Priced List Farming Implements 25 A Smut Machine, to clean damaged grain.
1852 Appleton's Dict. Machines II. 588 Smut Machine..for cleaning all kinds of grain.
1869 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Agric. 1868 37 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (40th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc.) XV A few cattle in Massachusetts have died from eating ‘smut corn’.
1897 W. G. Smith tr. K. F. von Tubeuf Dis. Plants 275 The Ustilagineae or Smut-fungi are distinguished by their dark-coloured or black chlamydospores.
1897 W. G. Smith tr. K. F. von Tubeuf Dis. Plants 276 In this way any adherent smut-spores are killed.
1928 D. H. Lawrence Let. 9 Mar. (1962) II. 1042 Mason wrote me rather scared about the censor and smut~hunting authorities.
1930 Publishers' Weekly 31 May 2737/2 The confiscation of dirty picture postals and smut books.
1961 John o' London's 28 Sept. 357/3 The bulk of The High Price of Pornography is devoted to a survey of the rancid avalanche of smut magazines..which are pulped out in the States.
1965 E. L. Myles Emperor of Peace River i. xiii. 135 He bought..a two-inch stone burr mill complete with smut mill, cleaner and water wheel.
1977 Zigzag Apr. 28/3 He said we were turning lunchtime into a 42nd street smut shop.
C2.
Categories »
smut-grass n. U.S. a rush-grass ( Sporobolus Indicus), the spikes of which are usually blackened by a smut.
smut-hound n. [compare hound n.1 4e] colloquial one who seeks to censor or suppress smut (sense 5), esp. in literature.
ΘΚΠ
society > communication > printing > publishing > publisher > [noun] > censor
gelder1564
purger1604
surveyor1663
press censor1853
smut-hound1927
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > hiding, concealing from view > keeping from knowledge > keeping from publication > [noun] > one who controls or suppresses > spec
censor1644
press censor1853
smut-hound1927
1927 H. L. Mencken Let. 2 Dec. (1961) 305 Of my inventions I am vainest of Bible Belt, booboisie, smut-hound and Boobus americanus.
1930 W. H. Auden Poems 69 Lawrence was brought down by smut-hounds, Blake went dotty as he sang.
1967 Spectator 1 Dec. 683/1 Eminent men of letters would not be dismissed as fools or smuthounds.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
smutv.
/smʌt/, U.S. /smət/ 1.
a. transitive. To mark with some black or dirty substance; to blacken, smudge.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > soiled condition > soil [verb (transitive)]
sulec897
smitOE
soil1297
besoila1300
bysulpc1400
smudgec1430
dauba1450
smirch1495
smotter1513
suddle1513
smada1525
coinquinatea1529
puddle1535
moil1575
smut1587
sud1593
sully1601
coninquinate1609
smirch1615
smutcha1616
beslurry1627
besullya1645
smoot1683
besmircha1700
be-smutch1832
guggle1866
dirten1906
α.
β. 1657 W. Morice Coena quasi Κοινὴ xxxiii. 306 To keep my cloaths from being smootted by a Chimnie-sweeper.1587 J. Harmar tr. T. de Bèze Serm. 195 No man can like to be smutted and blatched in his face.
1625 T. Middleton Game at Chæss iii. i W. Pawn. White quickly soils you know. B. J. Pawn...Get thee gone then, I shall smut thee.
1668 H. More Divine Dialogues iii. iv. 365 A company..whom some unlucky Wag has smutted with his sooty and greazy fingers.
1705 J. Addison Remarks Italy 26 The Inside is so smutted with Dust, and the Smoak of Lamps.
1752 S. Johnson Rambler No. 188. ⁋12 Contriving to smut the nose of any stranger who was to be initiated into the club.
1836 R. Whately in E. J. Whately Life & Corr. R. Whately (1866) I. 366 He who wrestles with a chimney-sweeper is sure to be smutted.
1877 Daily News 27 Dec. 6/1 The dingy whitewashed walls, smutted by the smoke of the tottering stove.
b. figurative. To stain with some fault or imperfection.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > moral or spiritual degeneration > degrading or impairing morally > degrade or impair morally [verb (transitive)] > pollute or defile
afileeOE
awemOE
filec1175
wemc1175
soila1250
foulc1330
defoula1340
bleckc1380
blemishc1380
pollutea1382
tache1390
sulpa1400
vilec1400
spota1413
stain1446
defilec1450
violate1490
tan1530
smear1549
beray1576
moil1596
discolour1598
smut1601
bespurtle1604
sullya1616
commaculatec1616
decolour?c1622
collutulate1623
deturpate1623
berust1631
smutch1640
discolorate1651
smoot1683
tarnish1695
tar1817
dirten1987
α.
β. a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Hunt. 51 Considering the sottishness of superstition in the age, he lived in, he is less smoohted therewith, than any of his contemporaries.1601 A. Dent Plaine Mans Path-way to Heauen 226 What is the cause that some one sinne doth so blot and smut the most excellent men?
1674 C. Cotton in T. Flatman Poems & Songs sig. A8 You no prophane, no obscene language use To smut your paper or defile your Muse.
2.
a. To affect (grain) with smut.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > disease or injury > affect with disease or atmospheric conditions [verb (transitive)]
smut1626
snape1631
blight1695
houseburn1708
rust1759
spur1896
scorch1905
windrock1969
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §497 There falleth also Mildew upon Corn and smutteth it.
1812 J. Sinclair Acct. Syst. Husbandry Scotl. i. 325 Having often observed in his wheat fields, a few ridges alternately clean and smutted.
1841 T. Hood Tale of Trumpet iii, in New Monthly Mag. Sept. 163 Though the wishes that Witches utter Can..Smut and mildew the corn on the stalk.
b. intransitive. Of grain: To be affected by smut.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > disease or injury > be diseased, injured, or discoloured [verb (intransitive)]
burn?1523
blast1580
slaya1642
smut1657
fire1693
mowburn1707
go1735
strike1742
curl1793
gum1794
sunburn1833
French1836
rust1839
shank1848
houseburn1850
1657 S. Purchas Theatre Flying-insects 143 Corn thus imbibed, and then sown without lime, will not smut.
1677 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Oxford-shire 244 Wheat following the dung Cart on their best Land, is the more liable to smut.
1745 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 31/2 Corn managed in this manner is not apt to smut or mildew.
3. transitive. To make obscene.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > moral or spiritual impurity > indecency > make indecent or obscene [verb (transitive)] > indecent exposure
smut1722
flash1846
moon1964
dropa1967
1722 L. Welsted Steele's Consc. Lovers Prol. 11 Another smuts his Scene (a cunning Shaver), Sure of the Rakes and of the Wenches Favour.
4. intransitive. Of fish: To rise at, or feed on, smuts.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > [verb (intransitive)] > rise at or feed on insects
smut1889
boil1898
smutter1899
nymph1972
1889 Sat. Rev. 18 May 612/2 These demonstrations are made by trout bulging, tailing, smutting, or minnowing.
1892 Field 4 June 838/2 The fish were smutting or bulging on the shallows.
5. transitive. To rub over (the blacked side of a hide) in order to remove the dirt and improve the appearance.
ΚΠ
1897 C. T. Davis Manuf. Leather (ed. 2) 433 The sides are then replaced upon the table, and are then ‘smutted’, which operation is performed usually by working over the blacking with a woolen cloth in order to remove dirt and sediment.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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