smut en · NOUN
Pronunciation
Etymology
From Middle English smutten (“to defile, debase”), related to German Schmutz (“filth, dirt, smut”) and schmutzen (“to make dirty, stain”). Doublet of schmutz. Compare also Old English smitta (“smear; blot; mark; stain; pollution”), Old English besmītan (“to besmut; defile; dirty; pollute; contaminate”).
Meanings
- (uncountable) Soot.
-
(countable) A flake of ash or soot.
“Do I have a smut on my nose, Mr. Donovan? You've been staring at me for a full minute. It's most disconcerting, you know.”
2012, Kasey Michaels, A Masquerade in the Moonlight:“You can rely on me!” Varya said, still more earnestly and enthusiastically, still leaning heavily on the counter, noticing briefly and forgetting at once that her bare elbow had crushed a stray smut from the Primus mender's booth.
1989, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, translated by Harry Willetts, August 1914, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 56:She reached it soon after half-past two. She found its gloomy nineteenth-century façade, black with the smuts of ninety years, a little daunting, and mounted its broad steps in some trepidation. But she rang the bell hard and knocked firmly.
1915, Edgar Jepson, “The Reluctant Duke”, in Happy Pollyooly: The Rich Little Poor Girl, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 135:
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(uncountable) Sexually vulgar material; something that is sexual in a dirty way; pornographic material.
The semiology of smut remains fairly unchanging: pasties, thongs, fetishwear-lite, simulated masturbation with the most unlikely of objects.
2013 October 9, Suzanne Moore, “Sex is everywhere you look, but the semiology of smut never changes”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:It is no use to say, well, your anthrostate requires smut to be shielded, but your neighbor’s antrhostate^([sic]) says he can show anything anywhere. The neighbor’s behavior affects you, so you have to have the same rules.
2014 June 9, Hans Noel, “Polystate: A Not-So-Bad Book About a Very Bad Idea”, in Washington Monthly:
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(uncountable) Obscene language; ribaldry; obscenity.
He does not stand upon decency […] but will talk smut, though a priest and his mother be in the room.
2026 September 25 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, May 25, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 39; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
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(countable, uncountable) Any of a range of fungi, mostly Ustilaginomycetes, that cause plant disease in grasses, including cereal crops; the disease so caused.
If the petals of your garden dianthus (pinks) are stained brown, they too are victims of similar smut.
2021 June 16, Phil Gates, “Country diary: in the fight to survive, red campion is a surprise battleground”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
- (countable, uncountable) Bad, soft coal containing earthy matter, found in the immediate locality of faults.
- (archaic, countable, slang) A copper boiler.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| smuts | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
onion smut · smutfic · smutty · smutter · smutmonger · antismut · barley smut · smut fungus · besmut · loose smut · smuthound · smut-ball · smutproof · cybersmut · hetsmut · false loose smut · Treksmut · corn smut · smutfest · smutless
Synonyms
Translations (39)
de Pornographie (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · ru поха́бщина (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · fr cul (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · fr charbon (range of fungi) · sv snusk (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · it carbone (range of fungi) · tr sürme (range of fungi) · sv sotsvamp (range of fungi) · su cawokah (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · ru головня́ (range of fungi) · pt carvão (range of fungi) · mi paura (range of fungi) · ca carbó (range of fungi) · es polvillo (range of fungi) · fi noki (range of fungi) · it oscenità (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · ru неприличие (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · cy penddu (range of fungi) · mk безобразност (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · ga gáirsiúlacht (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · nl brandschimmel (range of fungi) · mk гламна (range of fungi) · mk непристојност (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · ga salachar (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · ru поха́бство (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · ru ржа́вчина (range of fungi) · ga graostacht (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · es tizón (range of fungi) · de Brand (range of fungi) · ja オカズ (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · bg главня (range of fungi) · pl głownia (range of fungi) · pt morrão (range of fungi) · tr rastık (range of fungi) · ga cáidheadas (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · ru непристо́йность (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · fi porno (sexually vulgar or pornographic material) · mk гламница (range of fungi) · ga dúchan (range of fungi)