smut

American  

[smuht] / smʌt /

noun

1. a particle of soot; sooty matter.

2. a black or dirty mark; smudge.

3. indecent language or publications; obscenity.

4. Plant Pathology.

   1. a disease of plants, especially cereal grasses, characterized by the conversion of affected parts into black, powdery masses of spores, caused by fungi of the order Ustilaginales.

   2. a fungus causing this disease.

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verb (used with object)

smutted, smutting

1. to soil or smudge.

verb (used without object)

smutted, smutting

1. to become affected with smut, as a plant.

smut British  

/ smʌt /

noun

1. a small dark smudge or stain, esp one caused by soot

2. a speck of soot or dirt

3. something obscene or indecent

4. 1. any of various fungal diseases of flowering plants, esp cereals, in which black sooty masses of spores cover the affected parts

   2. any parasitic basidiomycetous fungus of the order Ustilaginales that causes such a disease

5. angling a minute midge or other insect relished by trout

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verb

1. to mark or become marked or smudged, as with soot

2. to affect (grain) or (of grain) to be affected with smut

3. (tr) to remove smut from (grain)

4. (tr) to make obscene

5. (intr) to emit soot or smut

6. (intr) angling (of trout) to feed voraciously on smuts

smut Scientific  

/ smŭt /

1. Any of various bacidiomycete fungi that are parasitic on plants and are distinguished by the black, powdery masses of spores that appear as sooty smudges on the affected plant parts. Smuts are parasitic chiefly on cereal grasses like corn and wheat and can cause enormous damage to crops.

2. Any of the various plant diseases caused by smuts, such as corn smut.

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Usage

What else does smut mean? Smut is obscene or pornographic material, including pictures and writing.

Other Word Forms

• antismut
  adjective
• smuttily
  adverb
• smuttiness
  noun
• smutty
  adjective
• unsmutted
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of smut

First recorded in 1580–90; akin to earlier smit ( Old English smitte ), by association with smudge, smutch

Example Sentences

It’s a chilling viewpoint to hear articulated so sharply sixteen years before Trump, and it wears its stupidity with pride; fittingly, the Smut Peddlers’s music has been featured in several of the “Jackass” films.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 7, 2017

Mr. Steadman not only stands with the poet in naming prowess, but also indeed calls them into splatted and blotted being — Lesser-blotted Bitwing, Needless Smut, Spundwick’s Fret, Quink.

From New York Times • Oct. 1, 2012

The council’s elaborate reports — given provocative titles like “MTV Smut Peddlers” — have grown infrequent, severely hampering the organization’s lobbying and fund-raising efforts.

From New York Times • Oct. 25, 2010

The lord and the lady had the kitten washed, and gave it food, and called it Smut.

From Very Short Stories and Verses For Children by Clifford, W. K., Mrs.

But though he once took a natural Smut floating within an inch of my fly, my fly he would not take.

From Old Flies in New Dresses How to Dress Dry Flies with the Wings in the Natural Position and Some New Wet Flies by Walker, Charles Edward

Related Words

• erotica
• filth
• obscenity