smittlen.
/ˈsmɪtl/, U.S. /ˈsmɪd(ə)l/ English regional (northern).
Infection, contagion.In quot. 1844 in to take smittle: to be infected.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > production of disease > [noun] > infection > infectious disease
infection?a1425
smit1838
smittle1838
zymotic1842
return case1856
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > production of disease > [noun] > contagion > contagious disease
contagion1398
smittle1838
1838 W. Holloway Gen. Dict. Provincialisms 156/2 Smittle, infection.
1844 C. Waterton Ess. Nat. Hist. 2nd Ser. 161 You would have thought that Dame Nature herself had taken smittle, as we say in Yorkshire.
1862 C. C. Robinson Dial. Leeds & Neighbourhood 414 Is ther onny smittle to be flāayed on?
1907 P. H. Ditchfield Parish Clerk xx. 296 ‘He wadn't pit it on,’ said the old clerk Christopher... ‘I reckon he was afeard o' t' smittle.’
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
smittleadj.
/ˈsmɪtl/, U.S. /ˈsmɪd(ə)l/, Irish English /ˈsmɪt(ə)l/, Scottish English /ˈsmɪt(ə)l/ Chiefly Scottish, Irish English, and English regional (northern).
Of a disease or infestation: infectious; contagious; easily transmitted. Frequently figurative and in figurative contexts.In quot. 1859 of a night: capable of causing ill health.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > production of disease > [adjective] > infectious
contagiousc1374
infectivea1398
smitting?c1450
infected1480
infectuous1495
infecting1539
infectious1575
smittle1583
catching1594
contaminous1599
taking1608
communicative1741
malignant1822
contaminative1826
zymotic1842
smittling1845
infectant1855
autoinfective1874
catchy1884
toxo-infectious1907
postinfectious1913
1583 R. Sempill in J. Cranstoun Satirical Poems Reformation (1891) I. 760 Thair wald this halie bischope byde, Saying, forsuith, it was not smittell.
a1626 R. Senhouse Foure Serm. (1627) 132 The infection of Idolatry being so smittle, that..all Asia, and the world worshipping her, Diana had got footing in most Nations.
1693 W. Cockburn tr. W. Harris Exact Enq. Acute Dis. Infants 87 How silly and childish is it for Physitians to call Fevers Malignant, because smittle and contagious.
1720 A. Ramsay Rise & Fall of Stocks in Poems 265 The covetous Infatuation Was smittle out o'er a' the Nation.
1825 D. M. Moir Mansie Wauch in Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 458/1 Our trouble seemed a smittal one; the infection spread around.
1859 H. Kingsley Recoll. G. Hamlyn xxxvi Get thy saddles off, lad, and come in; 'tis a smittle night for rheumatics.
1935 W. D. Cocker Further Poems 79 A smittle thing the mawk, Yae flee contaminates a flock.
1955 Irish Times 2 July 8/4 Mightn't there be some smittle disease there?
2004 Belfast News Let. (Nexis) 22 May 36 Thon seekness wus gye smittle an a wheen o' fowk o' the toon tuk bad an dee'd.
Derivatives
ˈsmittlish adj. (of a disease) infectious; contagious; (of a place) liable to be a source of infection.
ΚΠ
1787 F. Grose Provinc. Gloss. Smittleish, infectious.
1845 S. Judd Margaret ii. v. 274 I han't been nigh the smittlish consarn.
1928 A. E. Pease Dict. Dial. N. Riding Yorks. 121/1 A caud i' t'heead's a smittlish thing an all.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
smittlev.
/ˈsmɪtl/, U.S. /ˈsmɪd(ə)l/ Chiefly English regional (north midlands and northern).
transitive. To infect; to contaminate. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > production of disease > make diseased [verb (transitive)] > infect
infecta1398
touch?c1400
smit1428
file1456
disease1467
fect?1541
tache?1541
tack1601
smittle1625
1625 [implied in: J. Robinson Observ. Divine & Morall lvi. 285 Neyther is there that danger of smitling by other passions, which is by this [sc. anger]. (at smittling n.)].
1673 J. Ray N. Countrey Words in Coll. Eng. Words 43 Smittle, to infect.
1829 Morning Chron. 27 June The pieces of cake and pie..may be smittled (infected), by having been in the same house with the dead.
1861 M. Eyre Family Hist. III. ii. 35 I am afraid the Rev. Theophilus Bingham has ‘smittled her’ as the Yorkshire folks say.
1886 R. E. G. Cole Gloss. Words S.-W. Lincs. (at cited word) I tell him he's smittled me.
1905 E. W. Prevost Suppl. Gloss. Dial. Cumberland 162/1 Take the rotten apples away, or they'll smittle the rest.
1978 East Anglian Daily Times 11 Dec. 4/7 She is using an expression from Yorkshire when she warns..‘And don't you dare smittle me with your owd germs’.
1996 Trans. Yorks. Dial. Soc. 19 12 He's getting smittled off yond (person).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, January 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1838adj.1583v.1625