smart

Verb

smart (third-person singular simple present smarts, present participle smarting, simple past smarted or (obsolete) smort, past participle smarted or (obsolete) smorten)

1. (intransitive) To hurt or sting.

   After being hit with a pitch, the batter exclaimed "Ouch, my arm smarts!"

   • 1897, Bram Stoker, chapter 21, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC:

     He moved convulsively, and as he did so, said, "I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait waistcoat. I have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot move. What's wrong with my face? It feels all swollen, and it smarts dreadfully."

   • 2023 October 12, HarryBlank, “Fire in the Hole”, in SCP Foundation‎, archived from the original on 22 May 2024:

     When the thrashing stopped, Fina used the pipe to roll the first woman's corpse over. She bent down, feeling a curious distance between the sudden serenity in her mind and the actions of her limbs, and beat the flames off the jacket with her bare hands. They were sooty and smarting as she used them to pry the garment off the woman's slack shoulders, and threw it over her own.

2. (transitive) To cause a smart or sting in.
   • a. 1652, Thomas Adams, Faith’s Encouragement:

     A goad that […] smarts the flesh.

3. (intransitive) To feel a pungent pain of mind; to feel sharp pain or grief; to be punished severely; to feel the sting of evil.
   • 1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 5, lines 81–82:

     You think this cruel? take it for a rule, / No creature ſmarts ſo little as a Fool.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 11:15:

     He that is ſurety for a ſtranger ſhall ſmart for it.

   • 1790, [Ann Radcliffe], chapter XI, in A Sicilian Romance. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Hookham, […], →OCLC, page 85:

     Meanvvhile the Abate exulted in ſucceſsful vengeance, and the marquis ſmarted beneath the ſtings of diſappointment.

Adjective

smart (comparative smarter or more smart, superlative smartest or most smart)

1. Exhibiting social ability or cleverness.

   Synonyms: bright, capable, sophisticated, witty; see also Thesaurus:intelligent

   Antonyms: backward, banal, boorish, dull, inept

   • 1811, [Jane Austen], chapter 19, in Sense and Sensibility […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

     I always preferred the church, and I still do. But that was not smart enough for my family. They recommended the army. That was a great deal too smart for me.

2. (informal) Exhibiting intellectual knowledge, such as that found in books.

   Synonyms: cultivated, educated, learned; see also Thesaurus:learned

   Antonyms: ignorant, uncultivated, simple

4. (often in combination) Equipped with intelligent behaviour (digital/computer technology).

   Antonym: dumb

   smart car

   smartcard

   smartphone

   • 2018 December 18, Joe Pinsker, “The Coming Commodification of Life at Home”, in The Atlantic‎:

     “Imagine this,” says an advertising consultant named Barry Lowenthal. “I’m a smart toaster, and I’m collecting data on how many times the toaster is used.”

6. Good-looking; well dressed; fine; fashionable.

   Synonyms: attractive, chic, dapper, stylish, handsome

   Antonyms: garish, outré, tacky

   a smart outfit

   You look smart in that business suit.

7. Cleverly shrewd and humorous in a way that may be rude and disrespectful.

   Synonym: silly

   He became tired of his girlfriend's smart remarks.

   Don't get smart with me!

   • 1728, Edward Young, Satire:

     Who, for the poor renown of being smart / Would leave a sting within a brother's heart?

   • 1711 October 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “THURSDAY, September 20, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 175; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

     I played a sentence or two at my butt, which I thought very smart, when my ill genius, who I verily believed inspired him purely for my destruction, suggested to him such a reply

     The spelling has been modernized.

8. Sudden and intense.
   • 1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707, →OCLC:

     smart skirmishes, in which many fell

   • 1860 July 9, Henry David Thoreau, journal entry, from Thoreau's bird-lore, Francis H. Allen (editor), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, 1910), Thoreau on Birds: notes on New England birds from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau, Beacon Press, (Boston, 1993), page 239:

     There is a smart shower at 5 P.M., and in the midst of it a hummingbird is busy about the flowers in the garden, unmindful of it, though you would think that each big drop that struck him would be a serious accident.

9. Causing sharp pain; stinging.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience.

10. Sharp; keen; poignant.

    a smart pain

11. (Southern US, dated) Intense in feeling; painful. Used usually with the adverb intensifier right.

    He raised his voice; it hurt her feelings right smart.

    That cast on his leg chaffs him right smart.

12. (archaic) Efficient; vigorous; brilliant.
    • 1697, Virgil, “Georgic 1”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:

      The stars shine smarter.

13. (archaic) Pretentious; showy; spruce.

    a smart gown

14. (archaic) Brisk; fresh.

    a smart breeze

15. (Appalachia) Hard-working.

Noun

smart (plural smarts)

1. A sharp, quick, lively pain; a sting.

   Synonyms: pang, throe; see also Thesaurus:pain

   • 1567, Ovid, “(please specify the book number or chapter)”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […], →OCLC:

     […] the bodie had no smart / Of any wound: it was the minde that felt the cruell stings.

   • 1715–1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book 5”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 25, lines 176-178:

     If chance some Shepherd with a distant Dart / The Savage wound, he rowzes at the Smart, / He foams, he roars […]

   • 1871, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, chapter 12, in Little Men: […], Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, →OCLC:

     Of course Tommy came to grief, tumbled upon a hornets’ nest and got stung; but being used to woe, he bore the smart manfully […]

   • 1948, Graham Greene, chapter 1, in The Heart of the Matter‎, London: Heinemann, Book One, Part One, section 8, page 42:

     The smart of his wounded hand woke Scobie at two in the morning.

2. Mental pain or suffering; grief; affliction.

   Synonyms: anguish, torment; see also Thesaurus:distress

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 101:

     Mishaps are maistred by aduice discrete, / And counsell mitigates the greatest smart; / Found neuer help, who neuer would his hurts impart.

   • 1624 (date written), John Milton, “On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], published 1673, →OCLC, page 20:

     But oh why didst thou not stay here below / To bless us with thy heav’n lov’d innocence, […] / To stand ’twixt us and our deserved smart / But thou canst best perform that office where thou art.

   • 1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter VIII, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, →OCLC, page 130:

     I was so humiliated, hurt, spurned, offended, angry, sorry,—I cannot hit upon the right name for the smart—God knows what its name was,—that tears started to my eyes.

   • 2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 9, in The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:

     […] Bertrand said, ‘No, you bloody idiot, do you think I drink this? I want mineral water.’ The girl recoiled for just a second at the smart of his tone […] and then apologized with steely insincerity.

3. Clipping of smart money.

   Antonym: dumb money

4. (slang, dated) A dandy; one who is smart in dress; one who is brisk, vivacious, or clever.

   Synonyms: fop, macaroni; see also Thesaurus:dandy

   • 1742, Henry Fielding, “In which the Gentleman Relates the History of His Life”, in The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and of His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. […], volume II, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book III, page 36:

     […] I reſolved to quit all further Converſation vvith Beaus and Smarts of all kinds, […]

Derived terms

• oversmart

Usage notes

• Other than in the saying met smart, the word is nowadays considered to be dated.

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

• Negerhollands: smert, smerte

Declension

Derived terms

• smartklokke
• smarttelefon

Derived terms

• smartklokke
• smarttelefon

Declension

Derived terms

• gatusmart
• smartskaft