▪ I. † smug, n.1 Obs.
[Of obscure origin: cf. smuggy a.]
A blacksmith.
| 1600–9 Rowlands Knave of Clubbes (Percy Soc.) 34 A smug of Vulcan's forging trade. 1629 Dekker London's Tempe 123 Worke, my fine smugges. 1709 E. Ward Hud. Rediv. i. 133 ‘You're an impudent slut,’ cries the smug at his bellows. |
▪ II. smug, n.2
(smʌg)
[f. smug a.
Smug (and Sir Smug) is used as a suggestive personal name by Cowper Hope 413 and 438.]
1. University slang. A quiet hard-working student.
| 1882 Daily News 23 Mar. 4/7 A ‘smug’ was always unpopular, but all unpopular persons were not smugs. The quiet smug was generally not a rich man. 1884 Radford in Birrell Obiter Dicta 212 He had many friends at Clement's Inn who were not smugs, nor, indeed, reading men in any sense. |
| transf. 1888 Pall Mall G. 17 May 1/1 The Conservative free and easy voters—unlike the Liberal smugs— ‘would have their holidays’. |
2. A smug or self-satisfied person.
| 1891 Sat. Rev. 13 June 701 The ocean of silly cant which has been poured forth on the occasion by smugs and prigs. |
▪ III. smug, a.
(smʌg)
Also 6 smogue, smoog, 6–7 smugg(e.
[Of doubtful origin; the form is against its being ad. LG. smuk (whence Da. smuk, Sw. smukk, G. schmuck) pretty, nice, as the change of k to g would be very irregular.]
1. Of male persons: Trim, neat, spruce, smart; in later use, having a self-satisfied, conceited, or consciously respectable air.
The word has been in very common use from the 16th cent., and the earlier sense shades imperceptibly into the later, so that quotations cannot be separated.
| 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utopia i. (1895) 11 They be so smugge and smoethe, that they haue not so much as one heare of an honest man. 1581 Rich Farew. K j, The Duke..perceiuyng him to bee a proper smogue yong man, gaue hym entertainment. 1613 Heywood Brazen Age ii. iv, I was when I was borne A pretty smug knaue. 1669 Pepys Diary 28 Mar., To the Office with Tom, who looks mighty smug upon his marriage. 1706 Estcourt Fair Example v. i, Thou hast a handsom smug Neighbour that I believe knows her as well. 1740 Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. I. 124 He is a patrician too, and a smugger gentleman than Livy or any of his heroes. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. i. lxix, Then thy spruce citizen, wash'd artizan, And smug apprentice gulp their weekly air. 1859 Thackeray Virgin. II. 337 A smug officer of the United States Government. 1884 Sharman Hist. Swearing i. 2 The..smug undertakers of the neighbouring Soho. |
b. Of women or girls. (Common c 1590–1650 in the older sense of the word.)
| 1590 Greene Never too late (1600) 98 Nowe Gods blessing on thy heart (quoth Callena) for louing such a smugge lasse. 1627 Feltham Low Count. (1677) 47 As smug as a Lady that hath newly lockt up her Colours, and laid by her Irons. 1677 Otway Cheats of Scapin i. i, She is indeed a good smug lass. 1701 Steele Grief a la Mode iii. i, Oh, that smug old woman! There's no enduring her affectation of youth. |
2. Of the face (person, etc.): Smooth, sleek; also, in later use = sense 5.
| 1582 Stanyhurst æneis ii. (Arb.) 59 His tayle smoog [L. lubrica] thirling, slyke breast to Titan vpheauing. 1592 Lyly Midas iv. i, Cross-gartred Swaines, & Dairie girles, With faces smug, and round as Pearles. 1593 G. Harvey Pierce's Super. Wks. (Grosart) II. 59 A slicke forhead, a smugg countenaunce. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche vi. iv, Those dangerous Sirens whose smug maiden face Is ugly mortal Treason's burnish'd Glass. 1712 Steele Spectator No. 428 ¶1 The Instrument which is to make your Visage less horrid and your Person more smug. 1790 Cowper Odyss. xv. 404 Sleek their heads And smug their countenances. 1852 Thackeray Esmond i. x, It was edifying to behold him, fresh shaved and with smug face, singing out ‘Amen!’ 1892 Mrs. Oliphant Hist. Sk. Q. Anne v. (1894) 237 Jeremy Bentham, in whose smug countenance Mill divined unspoken offences. |
3. Of things: Smooth, clean, neat, trim, or tidy; in later use, having an appearance suggestive of complacency or respectability.
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. i. 102 The smug and Siluer Trent. 1603 Dekker Wonderful Year Wks. (Grosart) I. 84 The skie..lookte smug and smoothe, and had not so much as a wart sticking on her face. 1620 Markham Farew. Husb. ii. xviii. (1668) 88 The Come..falls away and leaves the corn clean and smug of itself. 1777 F. Burney Early Diary, Journ., Putting on clean linnen, a tidy gown, and smug cap. 1841 De Quincey Rhetoric (1860) 376 The smug and scanty draperies of his style. 1872 J. Hatton Memorial Window II. 262 To them, the smug signboards have been coffin plates. |
† 4. Of language: Smooth, neat. Obs.
| 1607 T. Walkington Opt. Glass 129 A smug neate stile,..vernished phrases. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche xvii. clxxxviii, His soft smug words tickle your wanton ear. 1682 Annot. on Glanvill 184 That trim and smug saying. |
5. Indicative of, characterized by, complacency or conscious respectability.
| 1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles xi. 103 Human arrogance,..in the smug belief of its own election,..looks upon its fellow..as irrevocably lost. 1859 Kingsley Misc. II. 102 Addressing the audience..in the most smug and self-satisfied tone. 1885 Athenæum 30 May 688 A man of smug expediency and polite compromise. |
6. Comb., as smug-faced, smug-looking, smug-skinned.
| 1575 Gascoigne Herbs Wks. 173, I coulde haue brought a noble regiment Of smugskinnde Nunnes into my countrey soyle. 1630 J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. ii. 252/1 The fourth that entred..Was..a smugfaced furie. 1720 Ramsay Wealth 113 Thrice lucky pimps, or smug-fac'd wanton fair. 1876 M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. II. 2 The smug-faced deacons, in their glossy Sunday coats. 1895 ‘Ian Maclaren’ Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush i, A trim, smug-looking teacher's house. |
▪ IV. smug, v.1 Now rare.
(smʌg)
Also 7 smugg(e.
[f. prec.]
1. a. trans. To smarten up (oneself or another, one's appearance, etc.); to make trim or gay. Freq. with up.
| (a) 1588 Greene Perimedes To Rdr., To enter parlee with his wif, smugd vp in her best apparrell. 1599 Dekker Shoemaker's Holiday iii. iv, Mistress, smug up your looks; on with your best apparel. 1623 Middleton & Rowley Sp. Gipsy iv. i, Smug up your beetle-brows, none look grimly. 1672 Wycherley Love in Wood iii. ii, If she has smugged herself up for me, let me prune and flounce my peruke a little for her. 1750 F. Coventry Hist. Pompey i. ix, Your..master..has been smugging up his pretty face. 1772 tr. J. F. de Isla's Friar Gerund iv. iii. 68 He had smugged himself up, it is evident, with the utmost prolixity. 1888 Blackw. Mag. June 788 This worthy tutor, doubtless ‘smugged up’ in his Sunday suit. |
| (b) 1598 E. Guilpin Skial. (1878) 65, I must craue A little labour to be smug'd, and haue A blessing of Rose-water. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. iii. Wks. 1856 I. 37, I have put on good cloathes, and smugd my face. 1654 Gayton Pleas. Notes iv. xvii. 260 But to the Pole annex your Brasen Bason, 'Tis not to smug one then, but to amaze one. 1772 tr. J. F. de Isla's Friar Gerund ii. v. 362 Our Friar Gerund was so shaved, and combed, and smugged, and spruced, that it was a delight to behold his face. 1841 Peter Parley's Ann. II. 234 Poor old Goody Clackett had little thoughts of ever being smugged..to make a guy on the fifth of November. 1841 L. Hunt Seer (1864) ii. 74 All the thoroughfares in towns near London..have wonderfully plucked up, and smugged themselves of late years. |
b. absol. To put on a smart or smug expression.
| 1649 G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, ccxcii, The Bloat Face of Rusticitie, Smuggs, looking in A Mirrour. 1719 D'Urfey Pills V. 74 You smug, you trick, You toss a twire, a grin. |
2. To smarten up (a thing); to fit up (a room, etc.) neatly or nicely. rare.
| 1598 Florio, Brandire, to trick, smug, spruce, or trim vp any thing. 1745 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) II. 64 The moment I have smugged up a closet or a dressing-room, I have always warning given me, that my lease is out. 1751 Ibid. 399 The chapel is very pretty, and smugged up with tiny pews. |
3. [Perh. a different word: cf. smuggle v.2] intr. To caress, fondle. dial. rare.
| 1813 E. Pickens Poems I. 176 We'll cuddle baith amang the fug An' while we hug, an' kiss, an' smug, I'll haud thee firm by ilka lug. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 308 Blind to the world up in a shebeen in Bride street after closing time..and hugging and smugging. |
Hence smugged ppl. a. (also Comb.); ˈsmugging vbl. n.1
| 1706 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 217 Dr. Green was a little spruce smugg'd fac'd..Chaplain. 1719 D'Urfey Pills IV. 319 Drapers smugg'd Prentices. 1736 Ainsworth i, A smugging up, ornatus nitidus. 1932 Auden Orators iii. 104 Only hard On smugging, smartness, and self-regard. |
▪ V. smug, v.2 slang.
(smʌg)
[Of doubtful origin.]
1. trans. To steal, filch, run away with.
| 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Man of Many Friends I. 320 Some cold cream, which she had smugged from Mrs. Abberly. 1834 R. H. Froude Rem. (1838) I. 386, I have had a horse, which I have been cool enough to smug from the Bishop's stables. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Lab. I. 421/1 After that he used to go ‘smugging’ (running away with) other people's things. 1887 J. W. Horsley Jottings from Jail i. 6 We used to go and smug snowy (steal linen) that was hung out to dry. |
2. intr. To copy surreptitiously; to crib.
| a 1860 Alb. Smith Med. Stud. (1861) 54 Copying out their notes in little, that they may smug from them when locked up in the examination-room. |
3. trans. To hush up (a matter).
| 1857 Morning Chron. 3 Oct. 8/3 She wanted however a guarantee that the case should be smugged, or, in other words, compromised. |
4. To arrest, put in prison.
| 1896 A. Morrison Child Jago 247 His father had been smugged. |
Hence ˈsmugging vbl. n.2 (See quots.)
| 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 253 When any game was out,..it was lawful to steal the thing played with; this was called smugging. 1861 Mayhew Lond. Lab. III. 58 Landlord (collaring the bell). Smuggings! pursession is nine points of the law! 1864 Slang Dict. 237 Smuggings,..shouted out by boys, when snatching the tops, or small play property, of other lads. |