smart - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Middle English smerten, from Old English *smeortan (“to smart”), from Proto-West Germanic *smertan, from Proto-Germanic *smertaną (“to hurt, ache”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to bite, sting”). Cognate with Scots smert, Dutch smarten, German schmerzen, Danish smerte, Swedish smärta.

smart (third-person singular simple present smarts, present participle smarting, simple past smarted or (obsolete) smort, past participle smarted or (obsolete) smort or (obsolete) smorten)

  1. (intransitive) To hurt or sting.
    After being hit with a pitch, the batter exclaimed "Ouch, my arm smarts!"
    • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC:
      He moved convulsively, and as he did so, said, "I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait waistcoat. I have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot move. What's wrong with my face? It feels all swollen, and it smarts dreadfully."
    • 2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation‎[1], archived from the original on 22 May 2024:
      When the thrashing stopped, Fina used the pipe to roll the first woman's corpse over. She bent down, feeling a curious distance between the sudden serenity in her mind and the actions of her limbs, and beat the flames off the jacket with her bare hands. They were sooty and smarting as she used them to pry the garment off the woman's slack shoulders, and threw it over her own.
  2. (transitive) To cause a smart or sting in.
    • a. 1652, Thomas Adams, Faith’s Encouragement:
      A goad that […] smarts the flesh.
  3. (intransitive) To feel a pungent pain of mind; to feel sharp pain or grief; to be punished severely; to feel the sting of evil.

to hurt or sting

From Middle English smert, smart, from Old English smeart (“smarting, smart, painful”), from Proto-West Germanic *smart, from Proto-Germanic *smartaz (“hurting, aching”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)merd- (“to bite, sting”). Cognate with Scots smert (“painful, smart”), Old Frisian smert (“sharp, painful”).

smart (comparative smarter, superlative smartest)

  1. Exhibiting social ability or cleverness.
    Synonyms: bright, capable, sophisticated, witty; see also Thesaurus:intelligent
    Antonyms: backward, banal, boorish, dull, inept
    • 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter 19, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:
      I always preferred the church, and I still do. But that was not smart enough for my family. They recommended the army. That was a great deal too smart for me.
  2. (informal) Exhibiting intellectual knowledge, such as that found in books.
    Synonyms: cultivated, educated, learned; see also Thesaurus:learned
    Antonyms: ignorant, uncultivated, simple
  3. (often in combination) Equipped with intelligent behaviour (digital/computer technology).
    Antonym: dumb
    smart car
    smartcard
    smartphone
    • 2018 December 18, Joe Pinsker, “The Coming Commodification of Life at Home”, in The Atlantic‎[2], archived from the original on 25 January 2019:
      “Imagine this,” says an advertising consultant named Barry Lowenthal. “I’m a smart toaster, and I’m collecting data on how many times the toaster is used.”
  4. Good-looking; well dressed; fine; fashionable.
    Synonyms: attractive, chic, dapper, stylish, handsome
    Antonyms: garish, outré, tacky
    a smart outfit
    You look smart in that business suit.
  5. Cleverly shrewd and humorous in a way that may be rude and disrespectful.
    Synonym: silly
    He became tired of his girlfriend's smart remarks.
    Don't get smart with me!
    • 1728, Edward Young, Satire:
      Who, for the poor renown of being smart / Would leave a sting within a brother's heart?
    • 1711 October 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele _et al._], “THURSDAY, September 20, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 175; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
      I played a sentence or two at my butt, which I thought very smart, when my ill genius, who I verily believed inspired him purely for my destruction, suggested to him such a reply
    • 1923, Ernest Bramah, The Eyes of Max Carrados:
      The clerk gave Mr. Carlyle a knowing look, as of one smart man who will be appreciated by another.
  6. Sudden and intense.
    • 1860 July 9, Henry David Thoreau, journal entry, from Thoreau's bird-lore, Francis H. Allen (editor), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, 1910), Thoreau on Birds: notes on New England birds from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau, Beacon Press, (Boston, 1993), page 239:
      There is a smart shower at 5 P.M., and in the midst of it a hummingbird is busy about the flowers in the garden, unmindful of it, though you would think that each big drop that struck him would be a serious accident.
  7. Causing sharp pain; stinging.
  8. Sharp; keen; poignant.
    a smart pain
  9. (Southern US, dated) Intense in feeling; painful. Used usually with the adverb intensifier right.
    He raised his voice; it hurt her feelings right smart.
    That cast on his leg chaffs him right smart.
  10. (archaic) Efficient; vigorous; brilliant.
  1. (archaic) Pretentious; showy; spruce.
    a smart gown
  2. (archaic) Brisk; fresh.
    a smart breeze
  3. (Appalachia) Hard-working.

exhibiting intellectual knowledge, such as that found in books — see also intellectual

good-looking

cleverly shrewd and humorous

intense in feeling; painful

efficient; vigorous; brilliant

pretentious; showy; spruce

From Middle English smerte, from smerten (“to smart”); see above. Cognate with Scots smert, Dutch smart, Low German smart, German Schmerz, Danish smerte, Swedish smärta. More above.

smart (plural smarts)

  1. A sharp, quick, lively pain; a sting.
    Synonyms: pang, throe; see also Thesaurus:pain
  2. Mental pain or suffering; grief; affliction.
    Synonyms: anguish, torment; see also Thesaurus:distress
    • 1624 (date written), John Milton, “On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], published 1673, →OCLC, page 20:
      But oh why didst thou not stay here below / To bless us with thy heav’n lov’d innocence, […] / To stand ’twixt us and our deserved smart / But thou canst best perform that office where thou art.
    • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter VIII, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 130:
      I was so humiliated, hurt, spurned, offended, angry, sorry,—I cannot hit upon the right name for the smart—God knows what its name was,—that tears started to my eyes.
    • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 9, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN:
      […] Bertrand said, ‘No, you bloody idiot, do you think I drink this? I want mineral water.’ The girl recoiled for just a second at the smart of his tone […] and then apologized with steely insincerity.
  3. Clipping of smart money.
    Antonym: dumb money
  4. (slang, dated) A dandy; one who is smart in dress; one who is brisk, vivacious, or clever.
    Synonyms: fop, macaroni; see also Thesaurus:dandy
  5. (professional wrestling) A fan of professional wrestling who is aware of kayfabe and the scripted nature of the competition.
    Antonym: mark
    • 2005 June 29, "Sir" Adam Kleinberg, Adam Nudelman, Mysteries of Wrestling: Solved, ECW Press, →ISBN, page 138:
      wwe's attitude toward hardcore fans is a far cry from what it was during the Monday night wars. Back then, wcw would agonize over its decisions in an attempt to outsmart the “smarts.”

Borrowed from English smart.

smart (neuter **smart, plural and definite singular attributive smarte)

  1. (of a solution, contraption, plan etc.) well thought-out, neat
  2. snazzy, fashionable, dapper

Inflection of smart

| | positive | comparative | superlative | | | -------------------------- | -------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | | indefinite common singular | smart | smartere | smartest2 | | indefinite neuter singular | smart | smartere | smartest2 | | plural | smarte | smartere | smartest2 | | definite attributive1 | smarte | smartere | smarteste |

1 When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite,
the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
2 The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

From Middle Dutch smarte, from Old Dutch [Term?], from Proto-West Germanic [Term?], from or related to the verb *smertan (whence smarten). Cognates include German Schmerz, English smart.

smart f (plural smarten, no diminutive)

  1. pain, sorrow, grief

Borrowed from English smart, 19th c.

smart (strong nominative masculine singular smarter, comparative smarter, superlative am smartesten)

  1. smart (exhibiting social ability or cleverness)
    Synonyms: aufgeweckt, clever, gewitzt, pfiffig
    • 1862, “Amerikanische Zwangsmaßregel”, in Die Gartenlaube‎[4], number 20, page 320:
      Während in New York und andern östlichen Städten der einfachste kürzeste Proceßgang darin besteht, ist in vielen der westlichen Staaten ein „smarter“ Miether im Stande, fast noch ein Jahr nach geschehener Aufkündigung ein Haus zu bewohnen, ohne nur einen Pfennig Miethe zu zahlen.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 1910, Walther Kabel, Der schlafende Fakir‎[5]:
      Da vertraute ich mich meinem Chef, Herrn William Hawkens, an, der ein viel zu smarter Geschäftsmann ist, als daß er nicht das nötige Verständnis für diese unter Umständen recht einträgliche Idee gehabt hätte.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
    • 2017, Rechtsanwalt Dr. Thomas M. Grupp, Maître en droit (Aix-Marseille III), “Entwicklungen im Umfeld einer Rechts- und Gerichtsstandswahl in Zeiten von Brexit”, in Europäische Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsrecht (EuZW)‎[6], number 24, page 977:
      Die ersichtlichen Bemühungen, einen smarteren Ausstieg aus der EU zu erreichen, decken sich mit den beiden eingangs schon erwähnten Positionspapieren, die von der britischen Regierung im August 2017 zu Themen einer grenzüberschreitenden zivilgerichtlichen Zusammenarbeit und zur Rechtsdurchsetzung und Streitlösung (Dispute Resolution) veröffentlicht worden sind.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)
  2. smart (good-looking, well-dressed)
    Synonyms: chic, elegant, fein

Comparative forms of smart

Superlative forms of smart

smart

  1. first/second-person singular perfect of smar

smart

  1. alternative form of smert

From English smart.

smart (neuter singular **smart, definite singular and plural smarte, comparative smartere, indefinite superlative smartest, definite superlative smarteste)

  1. clever (mentally sharp or bright)
  2. smart

From English smart.

smart (neuter singular **smart, definite singular and plural smarte, comparative smartare, indefinite superlative smartast, definite superlative smartaste)

  1. clever (mentally sharp or bright)
  2. smart

smart (invariable)

  1. smart (with smart technology)

Borrowed from English smart.

smart (comparative smartare, superlative smartast)

  1. smart; clever
    Antonym: osmart