1. Grimy, dirty; marked with smudges.
1859. J. R. Green, Lett., I. (1901), 32. Some one … who can paint without having her fingers always smudgy.
1867. Miss Braddon, Doctor’s Wife, i. The young man with the smudgy nose was an author.
Comb. 1897. T. P. Terry, in Outing, XXX. 213/2. As if by magic hundreds of smudgy-faced love-pledges surround you.
2. Smeared, smeary; blurred, indistinct.
1865. Sat. Rev., 16 Dec., 675/1. It does not follow that, because an etching is black and smudgy, it has depth and power.
1875. Zoologist, X. 4485. Dull, smudgy brown … lends security to the brooding bird.
fig. 1887. Jessopp, Arcady, vi. 170. A smudgy surface of dreary, dismal, dull, dead-alivism.
