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smeary

adj
/ˈsmɪəɹi/UK/ˈsmɪɹi//ˈsmɪɚi/US

Etymology

From Middle English *smery, *smeri, from Old English smeoruwiġ (“fatty, greasy, unctious, smeary”), from Proto-West Germanic *smerwig, equivalent to smear + -y.

  1. inherited from *smerwig✻
  2. inherited from smeoruwiġ — “fatty, greasy, unctious, smeary”
  3. inherited from *smery✻

Definitions

  1. Having or showing smears.

    • I voice the weary, smeary ones of earth, The helots of the sea and of the soil.
    • They had Rembrandt on the calendar that year, a rather smeary self-portrait due to imperfectly registered colour plates.

  2. Tending to smear or soil.

    • […] stamped again and again in smeary red ink that looked like blood, was one word: CANCEL.

  3. Having a consistency like grease

    Having a consistency like grease; covered with such a substance.

    • And are there not diuerse skauingers of draftye poëtrye in this oure age, that bast theyre papers wyth smearie larde sauoring al too geather of thee frying pan?

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for smeary. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA