smudge1
/smʌdʒ
/verb [with object]
1Cause (something) to become messily smeared by rubbing it: she dabbed her eyes, careful not to smudge her make-up...
- She wiped the tears away, being careful not to smudge the ocher make-up from her eyes, a tip she had taken from the old Egyptians.
- She wiped her nose and smudged her eye liner and hated herself.
- Taking her hand stained with red she smudged blood across both her cheeks.
Synonyms
streak, mark, dirty, spot, soil, muddy, fleck, speck, blotch, blacken, smear, stripe, dot, blot, blob, daub, bedaub, stain
informal splotch, splodge
literary besmirch
smear, streak, blur, mess up
1.1 [no object] Become smeared when rubbed: mascaras that smudge or flake around the eyes...
- My eyes are very deep-set, and become more so the older I get, so anything that smudges, flakes or clumps drives me mad.
- For the first time in my life, I couldn't care less that my mascara was smudging, or that my eyes would be all red and puffy.
- I knew I must've looked terrible, my mascara smudged, my eyes swollen and red, my nose all runny.
1.2Make blurred or indistinct: the photograph had been smudged by the photocopier and was by no means as clear as the original...
- The forms smudge and blur, become lost in diffuse clouds of tone; the images are elusive - inviting speculative engagement.
- The ink was smudged and smeared beyond recognition.
- The unfortunate problem with the pages is that the ink easily smears and smudges.
noun
1A blurred or smeared mark on the surface of something: a smudge of blood on the floor...
- A smudge of blood marked the pure whiteness of the paper and then the force made Kerri write the letter I and then the letter D and then O and she eventually spelt the words I, don't and only.
- So, Alex came in and helped me clean all of the smudges and smears off (also, my chin, neck, arm).
- The walls were a crisp, clean white with no smudges or marks anywhere at all and a deep blue carpet covered the floor.
Synonyms
streak, smear, mark, dirty mark, spot, fleck, speck, stain, blotch, stripe, dot, blot, blob, dab, patch, pop, blur, smut, fingermark
informal splotch, splodge
literary smirch
1.1An indistinct or blurred view or image: the low smudge of hills on the horizon...
- The lower smudge of light is from the nucleus at the centre of the Andromeda galaxy.
- The patent illustrations are similarly greatly improved, beautiful, with clear lines, and missing the distracting streaks and smudges which are so often found on patent images.
- The outpost sat on the horizon, a black smudge with streaks of pink and orange in the sky behind it.
Derivatives
smudgeless
- She presses her nose against the smudgeless glass to watch them eat.
- If you want to label a disk, be sure to use only a smudgeless, felt-tip pen.
- This acid-free ink produces high-quality, smudgeless printing.
Origin
Late Middle English (as a verb in the sense 'soil, stain'): of unknown origin. The noun dates from the late 18th century.
Rhymes
smudge2
/smʌdʒ/noun North American
A smoky outdoor fire that is lit to keep off insects or protect plants against frost: discussions of the merits of various smudges at keeping bugs at bay...
- Some lit smudges every day under the house to smoke out mosquitoes.
- We used more fly dope and fat pork rind to ward off the flies instead of making smudges.
Origin
Mid 18th century (in the sense 'suffocating smoke'): related to obsolete smudge 'cure herring by smoking', of obscure origin.