smug
adjectiveverbnounattested in dialogue
- United States//smʌɡ//
- Australia//smɐɡ//
- //smʊɡ//
Irritatingly pleased with oneself; offensively self-complacent, self-satisfied.
adjective
- 1
Irritatingly pleased with oneself; offensively self-complacent, self-satisfied.
Kate looked extremely smug this morning.
- 2
Showing smugness; showing self-complacency, self-satisfaction.
a smug look on her face
- 3
obsoleteStudiously neat or nice, especially in dress; spruce; affectedly precise; smooth and prim.
They be so smug and smooth.
the smug and scanty draperies of his style
A young, smug, handsome holiness has no fellow.
Etymology
Originally "spruce, neat," from Low German smuk (“pretty”), from Middle Low German smuk (“lithe, delicate, neat, trim”), although the g of the English word is not easily explained. The ultimate source should be Proto-West Germanic *smeugan (“to crawl, creep”). From the Low German derived also North Frisian smok, Danish smuk and Swedish smukk (now obsolete or dialectal). Compare also Middle High German gesmuc (“ornament”) and smücken (“to dress, to adorn”), both ultimately from smiegen (“to press to, insert, wrap, to nestle”), hence German schmiegen, Schmuck and schmücken. The adjective schmuck, however, was borrowed from Low German. See smock for more.
verb
- 1
obsoleteTo make smug, or spruce.
Thus said, he smug'd his beard, and stroked up fair.
- 2
to adopt an offensively self-complacent expression.
- 3
obsoleteTo seize; to confiscate.
- 4
obsoleteTo hush up.
noun
- 1
obsoleteThe smuggling trade.
Have not they some term by which they distinguish the illicit trade? — They usually call it the Smug-pigeon.
The smug-boats have been called centipedes by the Europeans, on account of the great number of oars, with which, like legs, they walk the water.
Forms
- comparative
- smugger
- superlative
- smuggest
- past tense
- smugged
- past participle
- smugged
- present participle
- smugging
- third person singular
- smugs
smug · Irritatingly pleased with oneself; offensively self-complacent, self-satisfied.
smuggle · To import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying…smuggler · One who smuggles things.smuggling · An act of something being smuggled.