smicker
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English smiker, from Old English smicer, smicor (“beauteous, beautiful, elegant, fair, fine, neat, tasteful”), from Proto-Germanic *smikraz (“fine, elegant, delicate, tender”), from Proto-Indo-European *smēyg- (“small, delicate”), from Proto-Indo-European *smē-, *smey- (“to smear, stroke, wipe, rub”). Cognate with Middle High German smecker (“neat, elegant”), Ancient Greek σμικρός (smikrós), μικρός (mikrós, “small, short”), Lithuanian smeigti (“to lunge, thrust, jab”), Latin mīca (“crumb, morsel, bit”).
For the verb, compare Swedish smickra (“to flatter, coax, wheedle, butter up”), Danish smigre (“to flatter”).
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
smicker (comparative more smicker, superlative most smicker)
- (archaic) Elegant; fine; attractive, beautiful.
- 1606, John Ford, Fame's Memorial:
- No, his deep-reaching spirit could not brook
The fond addiction to such vanity;
Regardful of his honour he forsook
The smicker use of court-humanity.
- (archaic) Amorous; wanton.
- (archaic) Handsome, spruce; smart, dapper.
- 1590, Thomas Lodge, “Corydon’s Song”, in Rosalynde:
- A smicker boy, a lither swain,
Heigh ho, a smicker swain,
That his love was wanton fain, […]
Verb edit
smicker (third-person singular simple present smickers, present participle smickering, simple past and past participle smickered)
- (intransitive, archaic) To look amorously or wantonly.
- 1808, original 1668, John Dryden, Walter Scott, An Evening's Love:
- […] Maskall, must you be smickering after wenches, while I am in calamity?
- (intransitive, chiefly Scotland) To look or smile seductively or amorously.
- (intransitive, chiefly Scotland) To laugh or smile in a sniggering or leering way; smirk.
- 2014, Crystal Evans, Every Man Deserves A Good Jacket, page 116:
- I gave him a questioning look and he hurled a pillow at me. “Who you a look pon[sic] so?” “Me baby father” He smickered.
Derived terms edit
Anagrams edit
Swedish edit
Etymology edit
Noun edit
smicker n
Declension edit
| Declension of smicker | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
| Nominative | smicker | smickret | smicker | smickren |
| Genitive | smickers | smickrets | smickers | smickrens |