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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

smile-smirk en · NOUN

Etymology

Compound of smile + smirk. Coined by Irish novelist and poet James Joyce in his 1922 novel Ulysses (see quotation below).

Meanings

  1. An instance of smile-smirking; a combined smile and smirk.
    • He wiped his own face as an indicator, that same smile-smirk painted on his stupid face. 2014, Zoe Foster Blake, The Wrong Girl:
    • Not because it made his scar disappear, but because it eased it for a few moments. His cocky smile-smirk was a close second favorite. 2014, Nicole Williams, The Crash Trilogy:
    • I'm so not gonna tell him I was giggling because he is in my laps, but honestly, I think he knows. His lips do that smile-smirk thing again and he sits up. 2014, Lisanne Koster, Happily Ever After, Yes Please:
    • […] and he'd quickly pull out and jettison a storm, turbospewing her back and hair and sheets and face and ears and sly, conniving little smile-smirk. 2012, Jim Marquez, A Moveable Beast:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
smile-smirks Number=Plur lexicographic

smile-smirk en · VERB

Etymology

Compound of smile + smirk. Coined by Irish novelist and poet James Joyce in his 1922 novel Ulysses (see quotation below).

Meanings

  1. To smile while smirking.
    • She smilesmirked supercilious (wept! aren’t men?), but, lightward gliding, mild she smiled on Boylan. 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 11: Sirens]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 256:
    • He clanged open the register, still smile-smirking—Holy moly, it was really happening, what an adventure, wait'll he told the guys! 2014, John Nichols, American Blood:
    • Having inarticulately “rung the bell,” Douce “smilesmirks,” but nothing comes from her lips until the show is over and she teases Blazes Boylan (flirting with him, not Lenehan) that he is “the essence of vulgarity?' Never mind that her surname is French for “sweet,” she goes sour when Boylan leaves the pub immediately thereafter, for an assignation with Bloom's wife Molly. 2013, Jeffrey Miller, The Structures of Law and Literature:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
smile-smirks Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
smile-smirking Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
smile-smirked Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
smile-smirked Tense=Past lexicographic