schmatte

English

Alternative forms

• schmate
• shmatte
• schmata
• schmatta

Etymology

From Yiddish שמאַטע (shmate); originally from Polish szmata.

Noun

schmatte (plural schmattes)

1. (Yinglish) A rag.
2. (Yinglish) An old article of clothing.
3. An item of clothing: a "rag" in fashion- and clothing-industry slang
   • 1995, Manhattan, when I was young, by Mary Cantwell, page 139

     A night in April. We are dressing for a dinner party, I in a black skirt with a porthole over which I have dropped an empire-waisted blue schmatte. Schmatte, along with "merch" for merchandise and "matchy-matchy," as in "That sweater and skirt are too matchy-matchy," is among the words I have picked up at Mlle.

Translations

a rag

• Russian: тряпка (ru) (trjápka) f

• Yiddish: שמאַתע (yi) (shmate)

any item of clothing

• Russian: шмотка (ru) (šmótka) f

References

• http://www.yiddishdictionaryonline.com/dictionary/שמאַטע.html

Anagrams

• matchets
• smatchet