smut
/smʌt/
verb
- To make something dirty or stained with soot, dirt, or a similar substance.
- The chimney sweep smutted his hands with black dust.
- The smoke smutted the walls of the old kitchen.
- Be careful not to smut your clothes when you clean the fireplace.
Synonyms
noun
- A small piece of dirt, soot, or ash that makes something dirty.
- He wiped a smut of dirt from his cheek after working in the garden.
- The old chimney left smuts on the rug near the fireplace.
- A smut of soot landed on the clean white tablecloth.
- A disease of plants, especially grains, caused by fungi, that turns parts of the plant into black, powdery masses.
- Smut on the corn turned the kernels into black powder.
- The farmer worried that smut would ruin his wheat harvest.
- They treated the field to prevent smut from spreading to the healthy plants.