▪ I. smouch, n.1 Now dial.
(smaʊtʃ)
Also 8 dial. smeawtch, 9 smoutch.
[Cf. G. schmutz (MHG. smuz) in the same sense.]
A kiss, a buss.
| 1578 Whetstone Promos & Cass. i. iv. vii, Come smack me, I long for a smouch. 1634 Heywood & Brome Lanc. Witches ii. H.'s Wks. 1874 IV. 194 I'le have one smouch at thy lips. c 1746 J. Collier (Tim Bobbin) View Lanc. Dial. (1775) 66 Let meh ha one smeawtch at parting. a 1800 Pegge Suppl. Grose, Smouch, a kiss. North. a 1825– in dial. glossaries (Yorks., Lanc., Chesh., Linc., Northampt., E. Anglia, etc.). |
▪ II. smouch, n.2 Now rare or Obs.
(smaʊtʃ)
Also smoutch.
[Alteration of smouse n.]
1. A Jew.
| 1765 C. Johnston Chrysal (1794) III. 60, I hate them [the Inquisitors] mortally ever since I saw them roast some poor Smouches at Lisbon because they would not eat pork. 1785 Cumberland Observer No. 38 ¶2 Smoke the Jew!.. Throw him over, says another, hand over the smoutch! 1826 Scott Jrnl. I. 137, I took lessons of oil painting..from a little Jew animalcule; a smouch called Burrell. 1842 Barham Ingol. Leg. Ser. ii. Merch. V. (1905) 246 You find fault mit ma pargains, and say I'm a Smouch. |
2. S. Afr. An itinerant trader.
| 1849 E. E. Napier Exc. S. Africa II. 391, I dare say..you have heard that I have turned a regular ‘smoutch’, the Colonial term for trader. |
▪ III. † smouch, n.3 Obs.
(See quot.)
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Smouch, dried leaves of the ash tree, used by the smugglers for adulterating the black, or bohea teas. |
▪ IV. smouch, n.4
(smaʊtʃ)
[? var. of smutch n. Cf. smooch n.1 and v.1]
A smudge, a dirty mark.
The vb. smouch ‘to daub, dirty, stain’, is given by Sir G. C. Lewis Gloss. Heref. (1839) s.v. smirch.
| 1873 R. Broughton Nancy III. 192 A huge smouch of black under each of their eyes. 1882 Harper's Mag. Aug. 379 They keep carefully away from the smouch of the cigarette trays. |
▪ V. smouch, v.1
(smaʊtʃ)
Also 6 smowtch, 6–7 smoutch.
[Cf. G. dial. schmutzen to kiss, to smile.]
intr. and trans. To kiss, buss.
| (a) 1588 E. D. tr. Theocritus Six Idillia A vij, Thinkst thou..mee to kisse? I haue no will After the Countrie guise to smouch. 1600 Heywood 1st Pt. Edw. IV, iii. i, I had rather than a bend of leather She and I might smouch together. |
| (b) 1595 Enq. Tripe-wife (1881) 165 Kisse and smowtch the Widdow neuer so much: there is one..must carrie the wench away. 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xxi. 71 Chill zmouch thee every morn, before the Sun can rise. 1654 Gayton Pleas. Notes iv. 235 The Knights..did so smouch them, that the lippe-frolicks were heard into the Kitchin. 1811 Lady Granville Lett. (1894) I. 21 The little hideous Duc de Berri smouches us all. a 1825– in dial. glossaries (E. Anglia, Lanc., Cheshire, etc.). |
Hence ˈsmoucher; ˈsmouching vbl. n.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abuses M viij b, What kissing and bussing, what smouching & slabbering one of another. 1611 Cotgr., Baiseur, a kisser, smoutcher, smacker. |
▪ VI. smouch, v.2 Now U.S.
(smaʊtʃ)
Also smoutch.
[? f. smouch n.2]
1. trans. To acquire dishonestly; to pilfer.
| 1826 Cobbett Rural Rides (1830) 514 The far greater part of them are..getting or expecting loaves and fishes... They smouch, or want to smouch, some of the taxes. 1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abr. xxx. 289 Odds and ends smouched from half-a-dozen learned tongues. 1888 New Princeton Rev. V. 49 (Cent.), The rest of it was smouched from House's Atlantic paper. |
2. intr. To deal unfairly or dishonestly.
| 1848 Bartlett Dict. Amer. 314 To Smoutch, to gouge; to take unfair advantage. Colloquial in New York. |