smoky

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Filled with smoke.

   • a smoky cabin
   • Some sate turning of spits, and the place being all smoaky, made me thinke on hell, for the ioynts of meat lay as if they had bene broyling in the infernall fier […]
   • [We] never had better fires in England, then in the dry, ſmoaky houſes of Kecoughtan: […]
2. 2

   Giving off smoke.

   • a smoky oil lamp
   • […] is it I That drive thee from the sportive court, where thou Wast shot at with fair eyes, to be the mark Of smoky muskets?
   • 1894, George Santayana, Sonnet, in Sonnets and Other Verses, Cambridge, MA: Stone and Kimball, p. 5, Our knowledge is a torch of smoky pine That lights the pathway but one step ahead Across a void of mystery and dread.
3. 3

   Of a colour or colour pattern similar to that of smoke.

   • The Pismire kinde of Aetius hath a smoky body, an ash-coloured neck, and the back as it were adorned with stars.
   • […] the broken walls and roofs were distinguishable even at that distance, and sometimes a part, which had been repaired, contrasted its colour with the black and smoky hues of the remainder.
   • There is more clear gold and scarlet in our old country mornings; more purple, brown, and smoky orange in those of the new.
4. ›+ 9 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Having a flavour or odour like smoke

      Having a flavour or odour like smoke; flavoured with smoke.

      • a smoky whisky
      • […] thei abstain from a smoky peace of Bacon or hard salted and poudred biefe or suche lyke […]
      • [S]ome Dutch officers complained that the ſoup was ſmoaky, and the beef was tough, we adventurers declared that we never had taſted a more delicious repaſt; [...]
   2. 5

      Resembling or composed of smoke.

      • And let thy mustie vapours march so thicke, That in their smoakie rankes, his smothred light May set at noone, and make perpetuall night.
      • […] I too gave notice to the various wild inhabitants of Walden vale, by a smoky streamer from my chimney, that I was awake.
   3. 6

      Blackened by smoke.

      • Shepheard I take thy word, And trust thy honest offer’d courtesie, Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds With smoakie rafters, then in tapstrie halls, And courts of Princes […]
      • The room smelt close and unwholesome; the walls were dirt-discoloured; and the ceiling blackened. There was an old smoky bust over the mantel-shelf, and a dusty clock above the dock […]
      • The ruddy brick floor smiled up at the smoky ceiling […]
   4. 7

      Having a deep, raspy quality, often as a result of smoking tobacco.

      • “Stop the York four-day stage!” said he, forcing his smoky voice through a world of throat-embracing shawl […]
      • Father laughed his smoky laugh. […] The smoky laughter like a bridge between them over your head.
   5. 8

      Attractive in a sensual way

      Attractive in a sensual way; sultry.

      • There was still that smoky little thing about her. The sexy swaying walk, the dark voice.
      • Frankly, I don’t think his smoky Armenian looks drew their attention so much as the languid elegance of his manner […]
   6. 9

      Having a dark, thick, bass sound.

      • a few smoky jazz notes
      • The organ took on a dark, smoky sonority at evening service, and there was no doubt that the organ was adapting its normal sounds to accompany God’s own sepulchral responses […] to those prayers that were offered to him.
   7. 10

      Giving off steam or vapour.

      • Dark was the Path, and difficult, and steep, And thick with Vapours from the smoaky Deep.
   8. 11

      Obscuring or insubstantial like smoke.

      • […] to shewe them selfe playnely, to hate & deteste and abhorre vtterly, the pestylent contagyon of all suche smoky communycacyon.
      • If besides vayne crakes of smoky speeches, ye shewe no demonstration of sounde proofe, why these bragges of yours should be true, let vs graunt your saying.
      • […] scrambling with such distracted violence for the smoaky honours, the nominal wealth, the intoxicating pleasures of a few hasty daies […]
   9. 12

      Suspicious

      Suspicious; open to suspicion; jealous.

      • 1765, Samuel Foote, The Commissary, Act I, in The Works of Samuel Foote, London: George Robinson et al., 1799, Volume 2, p. 18, […] this old brother of ours tho’ is smoky and shrewd, and tho’ an odd, a sensible fellow;

The neighborhood

• neighborsmoked
• neighborsmoker