Definition of "smattering"

[…] he had a lytell smatterynge in the lawe: […]

1529, Thomas More, The Supplycacyon of Soulys [The Supplication of Souls], London: W. Rastell, Book 2

If any object against a Learned Education, that it will make Women vain and assuming, and instead of correcting, encrease their Pride: I grant, that a smattering in Learning may; for it has this effect on the Men, none so Dogmatical, and so forward to shew their Parts as your little Pretenders to Science.

1694, Mary Astell, A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, for the Advancement of their True and Greatest Interest‎, London: R. Wilkin, page 153

There were several of his Priests and Lawyers present, (as I conjectured by their habits) who were commanded to address themselves to me, and I spoke to them in as many Languages as I had the least smattering of, which were High and Low Dutch, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and Lingua Franca; but all to no purpose.

1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Emperor of Lilliput, Attended by Several of the Nobility, Come to See the Author in His Confinement. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), page 30

It’s easy enough to be a beak when you’re young and athletic, and can offer the latest University smattering. The difficulty is to keep your place when you get old and stiff, and younger smatterers are pushing up behind you.

1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part II, XX

He had only a mail-order smattering of music, painting; he had never read Dante or Goethe nor anything of Shakespeare except the plays on which he had been spoon-fed at Amherst […]

1951, Sinclair Lewis, chapter 2, in World So Wide‎

More sophisticated dishes, like trout, with a heavy smattering of finely minced rosemary between the filets, are simple and au naturel: the trout comes with a lemon wedge, a bed of mixed greens, and the head.

2004 April 12, Dana Goodyear, “Westville”, in The New Yorker

By the standards of the 70s, when the main climbing routes were littered with discarded tents and food packets, Everest is a lot cleaner, with just a smattering of plastic bottles and sweet wrappers on the rocky plateau that is base camp.

2011 October 24, Suzanne Goldenberg, “The mission to clean up Mount Everest”, in The Guardian

He was introduced to a smattering of boos from the crowd, a sign of the presence of fans from Notre Dame and other Big Ten schools.

2016 November 1, Teddy Greenstein, “Jim Harbaugh rates Wrigley Field atmosphere 'A+++'”, in Chicago Tribune