smicker

English

Alternative forms

• smikker (Scotland)

Etymology

From Middle English smiker, from Old English smicer, smicor (“beauteous, beautiful, elegant, fair, fine, neat, tasteful”), from Proto-West Germanic *smikr, from Proto-Germanic *smikraz (“fine, elegant, delicate, tender”), from Proto-Indo-European *smēyg- (“small, delicate”), from Proto-Indo-European *smē-, *smey- (“to smear, stroke, wipe, rub”). Cognate with Middle High German smecker (“neat, elegant”), Ancient Greek σμικρός (smikrós), μικρός (mikrós, “small, short”), Lithuanian smeigti (“to lunge, thrust, jab”), Latin mīca (“crumb, morsel, bit”).

For the verb, compare Swedish smickra (“to flatter, coax, wheedle, butter up”), Danish smigre (“to flatter”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsmɪkə(ɹ)/
• Rhymes: -ɪkə(ɹ)

Adjective

smicker (comparative more smicker, superlative most smicker)

1. (archaic) Elegant; fine; attractive, beautiful.
   • 1606, John Ford, Fame's Memorial:

     No, his deep-reaching spirit could not brook
     The fond addiction to such vanity;
     Regardful of his honour he forsook
     The smicker use of court-humanity.

2. (archaic) Amorous; wanton.
3. (archaic) Handsome, spruce; smart, dapper.
   • 1590, Thomas Lodge, “Corydon’s Song”, in Rosalynde:

     A smicker boy, a lither swain,
     Heigh ho, a smicker swain,
     That his love was wanton fain, […]

Verb

smicker (third-person singular simple present smickers, present participle smickering, simple past and past participle smickered)

1. (intransitive, archaic) To look amorously or wantonly.
   • 1808, original 1668, John Dryden, Walter Scott, An Evening's Love:

     […] Maskall, must you be smickering after wenches, while I am in calamity?

2. (intransitive, chiefly Scotland) To look or smile seductively or amorously.
3. (intransitive, chiefly Scotland) To laugh or smile in a sniggering or leering way; smirk.
   • 2014, Crystal Evans, Every Man Deserves A Good Jacket, page 116:

     I gave him a questioning look and he hurled a pillow at me. “Who you a look pon^[sic] so?” “Me baby father” He smickered.

Derived terms

• smickering
• smickly

Anagrams

• Emricks, Remicks

Swedish

Etymology

Deverbal from smickra.

Noun

smicker n

1. flattery (usually insincere to gain favor)

   Synonym: smörande

Declension

Declension of smicker

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	smicker	smickers
	definite	smickret	smickrets
plural	indefinite	smicker	smickers
	definite	smickren	smickrens

Related terms

• smickra
• smickrare

References

• smicker in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• smicker in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• smicker in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)