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schmear

Pronunciation: /ʃmɪə(ɹ)/

The English word “schmear” has 5 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A spread that goes on a bagel.
  2. A batch of things that go together.
  3. An aggregate.

verb

  1. To spread something, often a bagel spread.
  2. To bribe.

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish שמיר (shmir, “smear, spread”); compare German schmieren. Doublet of smear, smearcase. By surface analysis, schm- + smear. The sense “bribe” is from Yiddish שמירן (shmirn, “to smear, to bribe”), senses found also in German schmieren. The implication is that a bribe helps “lubricate” an interaction.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.