smack-dab, adv. U.S. dial. and colloq.
Also smack dab.
[f. smack v.2 7 + dab adv.]
Exactly, precisely; with a smack. Cf. slap-dab adv.
| 1892 Dialect Notes I. 232 He hit him smack dab in the mouth. 1893 H. A. Shands Some Peculiarities of Speech in Mississippi 75 Smack-dab, a term used by all classes, but more especially by the uneducated, to mean exactly, precisely; as, ‘I hit him smack-dab in the face’. 1934 D. Runyon in Collier's 3 Mar. 8/2 The old King tumbles smack-dab into the street. 1949 H. Hornsby Lonesome Valley 16 He gave a little hop and landed smack-dab in the water. 1953 Sun (Baltimore) 30 Apr. (ed. b) 19/6 An April rain fell today where no man..would have dared tread last night—smack dab between the bristling New York Yankees and St. Louis Browns. 1967 Boston Globe 18 May 27/2 The university trustees apparently want to put it [sc. a university] smack-dab into Copley sq. 1970 N. Armstrong et al. First on Moon xiii. 321 Here was the LM..right smack dab where it should have been. 1979 United States 1980/81 (Penguin Travel Guides) 395 Whether you want to be..smack-dab downtown,..or conveniently near Lambert Field Airport, quality hotels are available. |