Definition of "smart"

smart¹

/smɑɹt/

verb
third-person singular simple present smarts, present participle smarting, simple past smarted or (obsolete) smort, past participle smarted or (obsolete) smorten
1. (intransitive) To hurt or sting.
  Quotations
  He moved convulsively, and as he did so, said, "I'll be quiet, Doctor. Tell them to take off the strait waistcoat. I have had a terrible dream, and it has left me so weak that I cannot move. What's wrong with my face? It feels all swollen, and it smarts dreadfully."
  1897, Bram Stoker, chapter 21, in Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library
2. (transitive) To cause a smart or sting in.
  Quotations
  A goad that […] smarts the flesh.
  a. 1652, Thomas Adams, Faith’s Encouragement
3. (intransitive) To feel a pungent pain of mind; to feel sharp pain or grief; be punished severely; to feel the sting of evil.
  Quotations
  You think this cruel? take it for a rule, / No creature ſmarts ſo little as a Fool.
  1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], page 5, lines 81–82
  He that is ſurety for a ſtranger ſhall ſmart for it.
  1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Proverbs 11:15
  Meanvvhile the Abate exulted in ſucceſsful vengeance, and the marquis ſmarted beneath the ſtings of diſappointment.
  1790, [Ann Radcliffe], chapter XI, in A Sicilian Romance. […], volume II, London: […] T[homas] Hookham, […], page 85

smart²

/smɑɹt/

adjective
comparative smarter or more smart, superlative smartest or most smart
1. Exhibiting social ability or cleverness.
  Quotations
  I always preferred the church, and I still do. But that was not smart enough for my family. They recommended the army. That was a great deal too smart for me.
  1811, [Jane Austen], chapter 19, in Sense and Sensibility […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […]
2. (informal) Exhibiting intellectual knowledge, such as that found in books.
3. (often in combination) Equipped with intelligent behaviour (digital/computer technology).
4. (technology, of human users) Able to see through a false positive of a digital / computer technology equipped with intelligent behavior.
5. Good-looking; well dressed; fine; fashionable.
6. Cleverly shrewd and humorous in a way that may be rude and disrespectful.
  Quotations
  Who, for the poor renown of being smart / Would leave a sting within a brother's heart?
  1728, Edward Young, Satire
  I played a sentence or two at my butt, which I thought very smart, when my ill genius, who I verily believed inspired him purely for my destruction, suggested to him such a reply
  1711 October 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “THURSDAY, September 20, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 175; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853
7. Sudden and intense.
  Quotations
  smart skirmishes, in which many fell
  1702–1704, Edward [Hyde, 1st] Earl of Clarendon, “(please specify |book=I to XVI)”, in The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England, Begun in the Year 1641. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed at the Theater, published 1707
  There is a smart shower at 5 P.M., and in the midst of it a hummingbird is busy about the flowers in the garden, unmindful of it, though you would think that each big drop that struck him would be a serious accident.
  1860 July 9, Henry David Thoreau, journal entry, from Thoreau's bird-lore, Francis H. Allen (editor), Houghton Mifflin (Boston, 1910), Thoreau on Birds: notes on New England birds from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau, Beacon Press, (Boston, 1993), page 239
8. Causing sharp pain; stinging.
  Quotations
  How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience.
  c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene i]
9. Sharp; keen; poignant.
10. (Southern US, dated) Intense in feeling; painful. Used usually with the adverb intensifier right.
11. (archaic) Efficient; vigorous; brilliant.
  Quotations
  The stars shine smarter.
  1697, Virgil, “Georgic 1”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]
12. (archaic) Pretentious; showy; spruce.
13. (archaic) Brisk; fresh.

smart³

/smɑɹt/

noun
plural smarts
1. A sharp, quick, lively pain; a sting.
  Quotations
  […] the bodie had no smart / Of any wound: it was the minde that felt the cruell stings.
  1567, Ovid, “(please specify the book number or chapter)”, in Arthur Golding, transl., The XV. Bookes of P. Ouidius Naso, Entytuled Metamorphosis, […], London: […] Willyam Seres […]
  If chance some Shepherd with a distant Dart / The Savage wound, he rowzes at the Smart, / He foams, he roars […]
  1715–1720, Homer, [Alexander] Pope, transl., “Book 5”, in The Iliad of Homer, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], page 25, lines 176-178
  Of course Tommy came to grief, tumbled upon a hornets’ nest and got stung; but being used to woe, he bore the smart manfully […]
  1871, Louisa M[ay] Alcott, chapter 12, in Little Men: […], Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers
  The smart of his wounded hand woke Scobie at two in the morning.
  1948, Graham Greene, chapter 1, in The Heart of the Matter‎, London: Heinemann, Book One, Part One, section 8, page 42
2. Mental pain or suffering; grief; affliction.
  Quotations
  Mishaps are maistred by aduice discrete, / And counsell mitigates the greatest smart; / Found neuer help, who neuer would his hurts impart.
  1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto VII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, page 101
  But oh why didst thou not stay here below / To bless us with thy heav’n lov’d innocence, […] / To stand ’twixt us and our deserved smart / But thou canst best perform that office where thou art.
  1624 (date written), John Milton, “On the Death of a Fair Infant Dying of a Cough”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], page 20
  I was so humiliated, hurt, spurned, offended, angry, sorry,—I cannot hit upon the right name for the smart—God knows what its name was,—that tears started to my eyes.
  1860 December – 1861 August, Charles Dickens, chapter VIII, in Great Expectations […], volume I, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published October 1861, page 130
  […] Bertrand said, ‘No, you bloody idiot, do you think I drink this? I want mineral water.’ The girl recoiled for just a second at the smart of his tone […] and then apologized with steely insincerity.
  2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 9, in The Line of Beauty […], 1st US edition, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Publishing
3. Smart-money.
4. (slang, dated) A dandy; one who is smart in dress; one who is brisk, vivacious, or clever.
  Quotations
  […] I resolved to quit all further Conversation with Beaus and Smarts of every kind […]
  1743, Henry Fielding, chapter III, in The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews, and His Friend Mr. Abraham Adams. […], 3rd edition, volume II, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], book III, page 27

Definition of "smart"

smart1

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

smart2

adjective

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

smart3

noun

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

smart¹

smart²

smart³