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smudging

British  
/ ˈsmʌdʒɪŋ /

noun

  1. a traditional Native American method of using smoke from burning herbs to purify a space

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“Superhero” riffs on those experiences, with the details obscured by what Nelson called “a lot of smudging.”

From Los Angeles Times

The two women move around the room, burning herbs and shaking shamanic rattles while singing and chanting in a purification ritual known as "smudging".

From BBC

Harrell’s proposal preserves the basic framework of the urban village strategy, while at the same time renaming them, smudging their boundaries and targeting additional areas for development.

From Seattle Times

For Native people, smudging is the ceremony used for spiritual cleansing or blessing, but not all Indigenous people even use sage to smudge.

From Salon

Previous attempts at putting the magazine on microfilm had resulted in barely legible pages marred by heavy black smudging, with some parts of pages missing or damaged.

From Seattle Times