SMUDGE

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does smudge mean? 

• SMUDGE (noun)
  The noun SMUDGE has 2 senses:

1. a smoky fire to drive away insects

2. a blemish made by dirt

  Familiarity information: SMUDGE used as a noun is rare.

• SMUDGE (verb)
  The verb SMUDGE has 1 sense:

1. make a smudge on; soil by smudging

  Familiarity information: SMUDGE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SMUDGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A smoky fire to drive away insects

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("smudge" is a kind of...):

fire (the event of something burning (often destructive))

Sense 2

Meaning:

A blemish made by dirt

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

blot; daub; slur; smear; smirch; smudge; spot

Context example:

he had a smudge on his cheek

Hypernyms ("smudge" is a kind of...):

blemish; defect; mar (a mark or flaw that spoils the appearance of something (especially on a person's body))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "smudge"):

blotch; splodge; splotch (an irregularly shaped spot)

fingermark; fingerprint (a smudge made by a (dirty) finger)

inkblot (a blot made with ink)

Derivation:

smudge (make a smudge on; soil by smudging)

smudgy (smeared with something that soils or stains; these words are often used in combination)

• SMUDGE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they smudge    ... he / she / it smudges   
Past simple: smudged   
Past participle: smudged   
-ing form: smudging   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a smudge on; soil by smudging

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

blur; smear; smudge; smutch

Hypernyms (to "smudge" is one way to...):

rub (move over something with pressure)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "smudge"):

resmudge (smudge again)

dust (rub the dust over a surface so as to blur the outlines of a shape)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sentence examples:

The children smudge the paper with grease
The children smudge grease onto the paper

Derivation:

smudge (a blemish made by dirt)

 Context examples 

There was a broad, irregular smudge covering some yards of the track.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

These forming galaxy clusters were first spotted as faint smudges of light.

(Ancient Galaxy Megamergers, ESO)

He held up his candle, and there was a great, dark smudge upon the white plaster above us.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Boots had then run down the lane, and another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been hurt.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

In dashed Sir Nigel, and out again so swiftly that the eye could not follow the quick play of his blade, but a trickle of blood from the stranger's shoulder, and a rapidly widening red smudge upon his white surcoat, showed where the thrust had taken effect.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

All along the woodland track there did indeed run a scattered straggling trail of blood-marks, sometimes in single drops, and in other places in broad, ruddy gouts, smudged over the dead leaves or crimsoning the white flint stones.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The one was an oldish man with a thin beard, a crooked nose, and a broad red smudge from a birth-mark over his temple; the other was a negro, a thing rarely met in England at that day, and rarer still in the quiet southland parts.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

'I have paid the Englishman's debt, Gourval!' quoth he, and so rode away, laughing so that he could scarce sit his horse, leaving mine host still nailed to his door. Such is the story of the hole which you have marked, and of the smudge upon the wood. I have heard that from that time English archers have been better treated in the auberge of Cardillac. But what have we here by the wayside?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)