smut

[ smuht ]

/ smʌt /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR smut ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a particle of soot; sooty matter.

a black or dirty mark; smudge.

indecent language or publications; obscenity.

Plant Pathology.

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.
a fungus causing this disease.

verb (used with object), smut·ted, smut·ting.

to soil or smudge.

verb (used without object), smut·ted, smut·ting.

to become affected with smut, as a plant.

Nearby words

Origin of smut

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

Related formsan·ti·smut, adjectiveun·smut·ted, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for smut

A Smut came down and settled on a brass knob of the fender, which the councillor's housekeeper had polished that very morning.
Miscellanea|Juliana Horatia Ewing
Smut: a disease of plants, particularly of cereals, which causes the plant or some part of it to become a powdery mass.
Agriculture for Beginners|Charles William Burkett
But though he once took a natural Smut floating within an inch of my fly, my fly he would not take.
Old Flies in New Dresses|Charles Edward Walker
I never knew a dog that combined superlative valour with discretion in the degree exhibited by Smut.
The Rifle and The Hound in Ceylon|Samuel White Baker

The first who answers to the magic call is 'Smut,' hero of at least 400 deaths of elk and boar.
The Rifle and The Hound in Ceylon|Samuel White Baker

British Dictionary definitions for smut

smut

/ (smʌt) /

noun

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

a speck of soot or dirt

something obscene or indecent

any of various fungal diseases of flowering plants, esp cereals, in which black sooty masses of spores cover the affected parts
any parasitic basidiomycetous fungus of the order Ustilaginales that causes such a disease

angling a minute midge or other insect relished by trout

verb smuts, smutting or smutted

to mark or become marked or smudged, as with soot

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

(tr) to remove smut from (grain)

(tr) to make obscene

(intr) to emit soot or smut

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

Derived Formssmutty, adjectivesmuttily, adverbsmuttiness, noun

Word Origin for smut

Old English smitte; related to Middle High German smitze; associated with smudge, smutch

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

Word Origin and History for smut

smut

1660s, "black mark, stain," from verb smutten "debase, defile" (late 14c.), later "stain or mark with soot, etc." (1580s), cognate with Middle High German smotzen "make dirty," from West Germanic *smutt- (cf. Middle High German smuz "grease, dirt;" German Schmutz "dirt," schmutzen "to make dirty"). The meaning "indecent or obscene language" is first attested 1660s.

Science definitions for smut

smut

[ smŭt ]

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.

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

smut

noun

verb (used with object), smut·ted, smut·ting.

verb (used without object), smut·ted, smut·ting.

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of smut

Examples from the Web for smut

smut

noun

verb smuts, smutting or smutted

Word Origin for smut

smut

smut