Usually RIGHT SMART. A large quantity of anything. Southern.
1842. I asked here, whether the people made much maple-sugar in this neighbourhood [Virginia]; when … a planter … answered, “Yes, they do, I reckon, right smart,” meaning in great quantities.—J. S. Buckingham, ‘Slave States,’ ii. 327.
1846. Thar hain’t been much rain lately, but thar’s a right smart of snow, and it’s about half melted now. That makes wheelin heavy.—Farnham, ‘Travels in Prairie Land,’ p. 361.
1856. I sold right smart of eggs dis yere summer.—H. B. Stowe, ‘Dred,’ ch. 39.
1890. He confirmed my fears by telling me the water had “been on the rise right smart of time already.”—Mrs. Custer, ‘Following the Guidon,’ p. 292 (N.Y.).
