smarm
/smɑːm
/informal
verb
1 [no object] chiefly British Behave in an ingratiating way in order to gain favour: she had smarmed up to him in order to entrap him...
- Looking her over carefully, Joe smarmed: ‘Judging from your skin, twenty; your hair, eighteen; and your figure, twenty five.’
- All I saw and heard were politically loaded questions with no discernible purpose while the team >smarmed their way through a restricted news content.
- He smarmed and sneered his way through his much anticipated new comedy.
2 [with object] Smooth down (one’s hair) with water, oil, or gel: he had smarmed his hair down...
- By the end, he is smarming his hair down flat and wears a long leather coat.
noun [mass noun]
Ingratiating behaviour: it takes a combination of smarm and confidence to persuade them...
- And he's spraying smarm like the worst kind of cornered politician.
- Dang, and then I get back and they've got some pop smarm.
- I daren't even speculate on their devilish purposes… begone with your blinding lights and televisual smarm!
Origin
Mid 19th century (originally dialect in the sense 'smear, bedaub'): of unknown origin.
Rhymes
- admiralship
- admiral's mast
- Admiralty
- Admiralty Board
- Admiralty brass
- Admiralty court
- Admiralty Islands
- admiralty law
- Admiralty metal
- admirance
- admiration
- admirative
- admiratively
- admirator
- admire
- admiredly
- admirer
- admiringly
- ad misericordiam
- admissibility
- admissible
- admissibleness
- admissibly
- admission
- admission day