smutch
Americanverb (used with object)
noun
-
a smudge or stain.
-
dirt, grime, or smut.
verb
noun
-
a mark; smudge
-
soot; dirt
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of smutch
1520–30; perhaps < Middle High German smutzen to smear; compare German Schmutz smut
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.
She hadn’t done anything to me, and the smutch of the mud against her blue gown — the prettiest dress I ever saw.
From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz
As an ill coin beneath the wearing touch Betrays by stain and smutch Its metal false—such is the sinful wight.
From The House of Atreus by Morshead, E. D. A. (Edmund Doidge Anderson)
"You can't smutch the character of Daviess," said Wood.
From A Dream of Empire Or, The House of Blennerhassett by Venable, William Henry
The palm is hardly clean— But here and there an ugly smutch appears.
From The Task and Other Poems by Cowper, William
You do not ken me for the thing I am: If you but guessed, you’d fling the door wide open, And draw your petticoats about you tight, Lest any draggletail of mine should smutch them.
From Krindlesyke by Gibson, Wilfrid Wilson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
