Forms: 1 smeoru, -o, smeru, -o, -a, 3–5 smere (4 smer), 7 smeer, 6–7 smeare, 8– smear (9 techn. smeir). [In sense 1 common Teutonic: OE. smeoru, smeru, etc., = OFris. smere (EFris. smiri, smēr, NFris. smēr, smör, WFris. smoar), MDu. smere, smeer (Du. smeer), and smare, smaer, OS. smero (MLG. smere, smer), OHG. smero, smer (MHG. smer, G. schmer) fat, grease, ON. smjǫr (Icel. smjer, Sw. smör, Da. and Norw. smør) butter:—OTeut. *smerwa neut. The stem smer-, with different suffix, is represented in Goth. by smairþr neut., fat. Cognate forms outside of Teut. are Lith. smarsas fat, OIr. smir (Gael. smior) marrow, and perh. Gr. μύρον ointment. The later senses are mainly, if not entirely, f. the vb., like G. schmiere.
In OE. the w of the stem appears regularly in the genitive and dative smeor(u)wes, -we, smer(e)wes, -we, etc.]
† 1. Fat, grease, lard; ointment. Obs.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss., U 257. Unguentum, smeoru.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter xvi. 10. Smeoru his [hie] bilucun.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 74. Cnuciʓe wið eald smeoru. Ibid., II. 68. Heorotes smera oþþe gate oþþe gose.
c. 1200. Ormin, 13244. Nohht þurrh nan eorþliȝ smere, acc all þurrh Haliȝ Gastess sallfe.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 1573. In heuene deu, and erðes smere, [Esau] Gatte him bliscing.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 1306 (Kölbing). Newe schon þat man haþ bouȝt,… And smere, to smere hem al about.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., IV. vii. (Tollem. MS.). Þe fatnesse þerof … is mad white and turnid in to talowe and smere.
1447. Bokenham, Lyvys Seyntys (Roxb.), 78. Full of pyke rosen oyle and smere.
c. 1450. M. E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich), 201. Tak þe crotyng of a goot, & old smere of a red swyn.
1611. Cotgr., Oing, (Hogs) grease, or seame; smeare.
1648. Hexham, II. Smeeren,… to Rub with Grease or Smeare.
† b. A ‘company’ of curriers. Obs.
c. 1476. in Hors, Shepe, & Ghoos (Roxb.), 4 iv b. A Smere of coryers.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, f vj b. A Smere of Coryouris.
† 2. Smeared or dirty condition. Obs.–1
1600. Hosp. Incurable Fooles, 79. Neither was he like a tinker in any thing, but only the smeare and collour of his beard.
3. A mark, smudge or stain made by smearing, or suggestive of this; a layer or patch of some substance applied by smearing.
1611. Cotgr., Macheure, a blacke … smeare.
1793. Holcroft, trans. Lavater’s Physiog., xliv. 225. I see through his disguise, as I should the hand of a great master through the smear of varnish.
1859. Reeve, Brittany, 50. As the figures were moving, no trace of them is seen [in the stereograph], except a light smear along the shops.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. iii. Roof, and walls, and floor, alike abounding in old smears of flour, red-lead, and damp.
1888. Rutley, Rock-Forming Min., 25. The smears of balsam being ultimately cleaned off with a piece of rag or silk moistened with benzol.
fig. 1858. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., VIII. iv. (1872), III. 20. Here is the unprecise but indubitable fact, as the Prussian Dryasdust has left us his smear of it.
b. A small quantity of some substance prepared for microscopical investigation by being smeared upon a slide.
1903. M. A. Gershel, in Med. Record, 7 Feb., 209/2. Gonococci were demonstrated by smears only.
1904. C. H. Melland, in Brit. Med. Jrnl., 10 Sept., 599/1. A smear from the red marrow in the case appeared identical in characters with the picture of the blood film thrown on the screen.
† 4. slang. A painter; a plasterer. Obs.
1725. New Cant. Dict., Smear, a Painter, a Plaisterer, &c.
1728. [De Foe], Street-Robberies Consider’d, 34. Smeer, a Painter.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar T., Smear, a plaisterer.
5. a. An application for smearing sheep.
1802. C. Findlater, Agric. Surv. Peebles, 190, note. He proposes a smear composed of butter, train oil, and turpentine.
1870. G. Armatage, Every Man his own Cattle Doctor, 559. Arsenical dips and mercurial smears.
b. A product in the making of sugar.
1843. G. R. Porter, Sugar Cane (ed. 2), 220. The wet heads are cut off and put into a large mould; these are called bastard heading or smear.
c. Fishing. (See quot.)
1848. C. A. Johns, Week at Lizard, 241. Pollack are often attracted round the boat by what the fishermen call ‘smear,’ that is, offal of fish and bilge-water, which they occasionally throw overboard.
d. Pottery. A mixture used for glazing.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2220/1. Smeir.… A semi-glaze on pottery; common salt added to an earthenware glaze.
1884. C. G. W. Lock, Workshop Receipts, Ser. III. 221/1. ‘Smears’ and ‘flows’ are glazes applied by volatilization.
1897. [see semi-glaze, SEMI- 7 j].
6. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 1) † smear-gavel (see GAVEL sb.1), -monger; (sense 4 b) smear preparation; † smear-dock, Sc. -docken, English Mercury; † smear-gelt (see quot.); smear-glaze, = 5 d; † smear-nep, bryony; smear-shading, a method of shading used in glass-painting; so smear-shadow.
1297. Placita coram Rege m. 11 (1897), 65. Johannes le Smeremongere.
1304. in Cal. Pat. Rolls 32 Edw. I., 284. Ralph le Smermonger.
13[?]. Eng. Gilds (1870), 359. Euerych sellere of grece and of smere and of talwȝ shal … to þe kynge a peny, in þe name of smergauel.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 162. Mercurial, smerowo[r]t (smerdocke).
a. 1387. Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.), 43. Viticella, smernepe.
1775. Tippermalluch, Receipts, 12 (Jam.). Rub the person over with the juice of All-good (called in Latin Bonus Henricus, others call it the Smear-docken).
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar T., Smear gelt, a bribe.
1847. Winston, Hints Glass Painting (1867), 284. A stipple shadow is … always more transparent than a smear shadow of equal depth. Ibid. (1848), Glass Painting (1865), 80. The first and oldest kind of shading may be called Smear shading, and the second Stipple shading.
1904. T. G. Moorhead, in Brit. Med. Jrnl., 10 Sept., 602/1. Smear preparations were also made in order that the form of the individual cells might be more closely studied.
