Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Smirch
Smirch
,Verb.
T.
[From the root of
smear
.] To smear with something which stains, or makes dirty; to smutch; to begrime; to soil; to sully.
I’ll . . . with a kind of umber
smirch
my face. Shakespeare
Smirch
,Noun.
A smutch; a dirty stain.
Webster 1828 Edition
Smirch
SMIRCH
,Verb.
T.
Definition 2025
smirch
smirch
English
Noun
smirch (uncountable)
- Dirt
- 1998, Michael Foss, People of the First Crusade, page 6, ISBN 1559704551.
- Too often, in the years between 800 and 1050, the everyday sun declined through the smirch of flame and smoke of a monastery or town robbed and burnt.
- 1998, Michael Foss, People of the First Crusade, page 6, ISBN 1559704551.
- (of a reputation) Stain
- 2008, W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, page 33, ISBN 1604502061.
- there were some business transactions which savored of dangerous speculation, if not dishonesty; and around it all lay the smirch of the Freedmen's Bank.
- 2008, W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, page 33, ISBN 1604502061.
Verb
smirch (third-person singular simple present smirches, present participle smirching, simple past and past participle smirched)
- To dirty; to make dirty.
- 1600, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act I Scene III
- CELIA. I'll put myself in poor and mean attire,
- And with a kind of umber smirch my face;
- The like do you; so shall we pass along,
- And never stir assailants.
- 1600, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act I Scene III
Translations
to dirty
Synonyms
Derived terms
References
- “smirch” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).
Etymology 2
- A chirp of radiation power from an astronomical body that has a smeared appearance on its plot in the time-frequency plane (usually associated with massive bodies orbiting supermassive black holes)
- 2003, B. S. Sathyaprakash, BF Schutz, "Templates for stellar mass black holes falling into supermassive black holes", Classical and Quantum Gravity, volume 20, no. 10
- The strain h(t) produced by a smirch in LISA is given by h(t) = −-A(t)cos[(t) + φ(t)]
- 2005, John M. T. Thompson, Advances in Astronomy: From the Big Bang to the Solar System, page 133, ISBN 1860945775.
- By observing a smirch, LISA offers a unique opportunity to directly map the spacetime geometry around the central object and test whether or not this structure is in accordance with the expectations of general realtivity.
- 2003, B. S. Sathyaprakash, BF Schutz, "Templates for stellar mass black holes falling into supermassive black holes", Classical and Quantum Gravity, volume 20, no. 10