Dictionary

smartle en · VERB

Etymology

From smart + -le.

Meanings

1. (intransitive) To hurt or sting with pain, often continually or repeatedly.
   • "I am wounded, too," he added, as he now felt for the first time, the smartling pain of the gash in his side. 1968, Graham's Magazine, volume 8, page 206:
   • There was a little blister on Billy's knee. He looked at it with deep self-pity. "It smartles!" he said pitifully. 1902, Brown Linnet, The Kidnapping of Ettie and Other Tales, page 287:
   • Smartling in its nudity, will not save the production. 1954, Paul Henry Lang, Articles, Reviews, Etc, page 13:

Forms