Also 5–6 smothe. [f. the adj.]
1. † a. A level space, = SMEETH sb. Obs.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 460/2. Smethe, or smothe,… planicies.
b. U.S. A meadow; a grass field.
1845. S. Judd, Margaret, I. ii. 6. Get some plantain and dandelion on the smooth for greens.
1848. Bartlett, Dict. Amer., 314.
c. Naut. A stretch of comparatively smooth or calm water in a rough sea.
1840. Marryat, Poor Jack, xlii. You will find that two waves will run into one another, and … neutralize each other, so that for a few seconds you have what they call a smooth.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Smooth. A Cornish term applied when the surf abates its fury for a short space. Also, the lee of a ship or of a rock.
1878. D. Kemp, Yacht & Boat Sailing, 245. If there is much sea, a ‘smooth’ should be watched for, to tack in.
d. Coal-mining. (See quots.)
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 228. Smooth.… The line of face of a stall. Ibid., Smooths.… Planes of cleavage more or less vertical.
2. The smooth part or surface of something; smoothness.
1551. Bible, Gen. xxvii. 16. She put ye skynnes vpon his handes, & vpon the smothe of hys necke.
1805. Spirit Public Jrnls., IX. 339. Like the silver-wing’d dove was the smooth of her hair.
1880. Browning, Dram. Idyls, Ser. II. Pan & Luna, 13. See how the sluggish jelly … Turns marble to the touch of who would loose The solid smooth.
b. Smooth water or ground.
1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 409. On smooth the Seale And bended Dolphins play.
1799, 1821. [see ROUGH sb.1 2].
c. The agreeable or pleasant part, side or aspect of anything. Used in contrast to rough.
1612–. [see ROUGH sb.1 6 b].
† 3. A polite or veiled rebuke or retort. Obs.–1
1586. A. Day, Eng. Secretary, II. (1595), 80. Asteismus, a smooth, as we call it, as when one tels a thing repugnant to the present matter or company, to say, ‘I had as lieue he told me it snew.’
4. An act of smoothing.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lxv. She … gave one smooth to her hair, and finally let in her visitor.
5. An implement for smoothing or reducing the roughness of a surface; a smoother; a smooth file.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 414/1. When cooled, the roughnesses were taken off with a ‘smooth’ or scraper, and it was ready to receive the silver.
1881. Greener, The Gun, 245. The bents are then cut in the tumbler with a small saw, and finished with files and smoothes.
1895. Model Steam Eng., 92. ‘Smooth,’ Dead Smooths, the finest of all, complete the various forms of files.
6. a. A species of moth (see quot. 1832). b. A smooth-coated dog.
1832. J. Rennie, Butterfl. & Moths, 110. The Smooth (Cleora teneraria, Stephens) appears the end of June or beginning of July.
1897. Westm. Gaz., 11 May, 4/3. He owns a brace of smooths named Dame Fortune and Dona Fortuna.
