small talk
Casual conversation about unimportant matters
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small wonder
Not surprising at all
small-beer
"he doesn’t think SMALL-BEER of himself," i.e., he has a great opinion of his own importance. SMALL COALS is also used in the same sense.
smalls
A University term for the first general examination of the student. It is used at Cambridge, but properly belongs to Oxford. The Cambridge term is "little go."
smart
Spruce, fine: as smart as a carrot new scraped.
smart arse
Someone who gives annoyingly clever answers
smart as a whip
Exceptionally intelligent or quick-witted
smart chance
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
smart money
Money allowed to soldiers or sailors for the loss of a limb, or other hurt received in the service.
Smart Money
Money paid by a person to obtain exemption from some disagreeable office or duty, or given to soldiers or sailors for injuries received in the service; in law it means a heavy fine. It either makes the person smart," Le. suffer, or else the person who receives it is paid for smarting.
smash
Leg of mutton and smash: a leg of mutton and mashed turnips. SEA TERM.
smash
To become bankrupt, or worthless; "to go all to SMASH," to break, "go to the dogs," or fall in pieces.
smash and grab
a type of theft where a store is broken into quickly
smash hit
Something extremely successful or popular
smash someone's face in
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
smash someone's head
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
smash up
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
smash-man-geordie
A pitman’s oath.—Durham and Northumberland. See GEORDIE.
smashed
Drunk.
smasher
A person who lives by passing base coin. The cove was fined in the steel for smashing; the fellow was ordered to be imprisoned in the house of correction for uttering base coin.
smasher
One who passes bad coin, or forged notes.
smashfeeder
A Britannia-metal spoon,—the best imitation shillings are made from this metal.
smear campaign
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
smeghead
A fool.
smell a rat
Suspect that something is wrong or deceitful
smell blood
Sense an opportunity to take advantage of someone
smell fishy
seem suspicious or wrong
smell like a rose
to seem perfect or flawless
smell like a tart's handbag
Recognized English idiom; full definition pending editorial review.
smell of an oily rag
something that is very cheap or of poor quality
smell of the lamp
A sign of something being overstudied or overly researched
smell of the shop
to have a strong connection to a particular job or industry
smell one's own farts
To be self-satisfied or complacent
smell the barn
to be close to finding something
smell what someone is stepping in
to understand someone's situation or problem
smeller
The nose.
smeller
A nose. Smellers: a cat's whiskers.
smeller
The nose; "a blow on the SMELLER" is often to be found in pugilistic records. Otherwise a NOSE-ENDER.
smelling cheat
An orchard, or garden; also a nosegay. CANT.
smelly freckle
The anus.
smicket
A smock, or woman's shift.
smile a thousand smiles
to smile repeatedly and genuinely
smile from ear to ear
To smile very widely, showing great happiness
smile, and the world smiles with you; cry, and you cry alone
English proverb; full definition pending editorial review.
smiler
The mouth.
smirk
A finical spruce fellow. To smirk; to smile, or look pleasantly.
smish
A shirt, or chemise.
smite hip and thigh
To utterly defeat or destroy someone or something
smiter
An arm. To smite one's tutor; to get money from him. ACADEMIC TERM.
smith
(Capt. Alexander), The Thieves’ Grammar, 12mo, p. 28. 17—.
Smith of Nottingham
Applied to conceited persons who imagine that no one is able to compete with themselves. Ray, in his Collection of Proverbs, has the following couplet: — The little Smith of Nottingham Who doth the work that no man can.
Smith's Prize-man
One who has obtained the prize (£25), founded at Cambridge by Robert Smith, D.D. (1689-1768) (Master of Trinity, 1742-68), for proficiency in mathe- matics and natural philosophy. There are annually two prizes, awarded to two com- mencing Bachelors of Arts.
smithers
Or SMITHEREENS; "all to SMITHEREENS," all to smash, SMITHER is a Lincolnshire word for a fragment.
smithfield bargain
A bargain whereby the purchaser is taken in. This is likewise frequently used to express matches or marriages contracted solely on the score of interest, on one or both sides, where the fair sex are bought and sold like cattle in Smithfield.
smith’s
(Capt.) Compleat History of the Lives and Robberies of the most Notorious Highwaymen, Footpads, Shoplifters, and Cheats, of both Sexes, in and about London and Westminster, 12mo, vol. i. 1719.
smock-face
A white delicate face,—a face without whiskers.
smoke
London. From the peculiar dense cloud which overhangs London. The metropolis is by no means so smoky as Sheffield, Birmingham, &c.; yet country-people, when going to London, frequently say they are on their way to the SMOKE; and Londoners, when leaving for the country, say they are going out of the SMOKE.
smoke and joke
A fixed-order word pair (irreversible binomial); full definition pending editorial review.
smoke and mirrors
Deception.
smoke like a chimney
to smoke a lot of cigarettes
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