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Smirch

//smɜː(ɹ)t͡ʃ// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Dirt, or a stain. archaic, countable, uncountable

    "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."

  2. 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)

    "The strain h(t) produced by a smirch in LISA is given by h(t) = −-A(t)cos[(t) + φ(t)]"

  3. 3
    an act that brings discredit to the person who does it wordnet
  4. 4
    A stain on somebody's reputation. archaic, countable, figuratively, uncountable

    "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."

  5. 5
    a blemish made by dirt wordnet
Verb
  1. 1
    To dirty; to make dirty. archaic, transitive

    "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."

  2. 2
    charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone wordnet
  3. 3
    To harm the reputation of; to smear or slander. archaic, figuratively, transitive
  4. 4
    smear so as to make dirty or stained wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English *smorchen ("to spatter, soil"; attested in besmorchid (“bespattered, soiled all over”)), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a derivative of Middle English smeoren, smuren, smeren (“to smear”) or related to Middle English smotry (“sooty, grimy”). Compare also Middle English bismotered (“bespattered, soiled”), Old French esmorcher (“to torture”), Middle English smoterly, smoterlich (“besmirched”), modern English smut.

Etymology 2

From Middle English *smorchen ("to spatter, soil"; attested in besmorchid (“bespattered, soiled all over”)), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a derivative of Middle English smeoren, smuren, smeren (“to smear”) or related to Middle English smotry (“sooty, grimy”). Compare also Middle English bismotered (“bespattered, soiled”), Old French esmorcher (“to torture”), Middle English smoterly, smoterlich (“besmirched”), modern English smut.

Etymology 3

Blend of smear + chirp.

See also for "smirch"

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