smart

Less common meanings

7. 7
   feel hurtverbintransitive

   To feel a sharp, stinging pain of body or mind; to suffer keenly from grief or punishment.

   Anyone who cheats the town's investors will smart for it sooner or later.

   She smarted under the public criticism for weeks afterward.

   UsageThe cause follows from, under or over: smarting from a defeat, smarted under criticism. Smart for something means pay for it.

   Similarsuffer, pay, hurt

   Note

   Here the sting is in the mind, and the verb usually names its cause with a preposition. To smart for something is to pay for it: the King James Bible of 1611 warns that surety for a stranger shall smart for it. To smart under or beneath something is to endure it, as Ann Radcliffe's marquis smarted beneath the stings of disappointment. A cut that stings belongs to the bodily meaning. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

   • The King James Bible was first published in 1611. wwwe.lib.cam.ac.uk
   • The King James Bible contains this warning in Proverbs 11:15. en.wikisource.org
   • Ann Radcliffe's narrator describes the marquis smarting beneath the stings of disappointment in A Sicilian Romance, chapter XI. gutenberg.org
8. 8
   stingverbintransitive

   To sting or cause a sharp, burning pain.

   The antiseptic made the wound smart for a moment.

   Her eyes smarted from the smoke drifting off the campfire.

   UsageUsually the sore part is the subject: my eyes smart. Add the cause with from or with: smarting from the smoke.

   Similarsting, burn

9. 9
   nouncountable

   A sharp stinging pain, in the body or in the mind.

   He winced at the smart of the antiseptic on his grazed knee.

   Years later, he still felt the smart of being cut from the varsity team in front of his friends.

   UsageUsually in the smart of something: the smart of a cut, the smart of defeat.

   Note

   It runs from Arthur Golding's Ovid of 1567 to Graham Greene's The Heart of the Matter (1948), where "the smart of his wounded hand" wakes Scobie. The usual frames are the smart of something and bearing the smart, as Louisa May Alcott's Tommy does after the hornets. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

   • Arthur Golding's complete translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses was published in 1567. internetshakespeare.uvic.ca
   • Golding's translation contains the noun smart in the pain sense. sourcetext.com
   • The Heart of the Matter is by Graham Greene and was first published in 1948. en.wikipedia.org
   • The quoted phrase occurs in Greene's narration, describing the pain that wakes Scobie. en.wiktionary.org
   • Alcott describes Tommy bearing the smart after being stung by hornets. gutenberg.org
10. 10
    quick and hardadjective

    Sharp and forceful, as a blow that stings.

    She delivered a smart blow to the punching bag.

    She gave the stubborn mule a smart slap on the rump, and it finally started up the trail.

    UsageUsed in phrases such as a smart blow, a smart slap, or a smart shower. It does not mean clever here.

    Similarsharp, hard, stinging, forceful

    Oppositegentle, light, soft

    Note

    Intensity arriving all at once, often in weather or fighting. Thoreau's journal for July 1860 records "a smart shower at 5 P.M.," and the Earl of Clarendon writes of "smart skirmishes, in which many fell." Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Thoreau's July 1860 journal contains the quoted phrase; the entry is dated 9 July. walden.org
    • The Earl of Clarendon wrote the quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    painful (emotion)adjective

    Keenly and sharply felt, especially of an emotion such as grief or regret.

    Similarsharp, keen, acute, bitter, intense

    Oppositemild, faint, dull

12. 12
    dandynoundatedcountable

    A dandy; a person who dresses stylishly, or who is brisk, lively, and clever.

    Similardandy, beau, fop, dude, gallant

    Note

    Eighteenth-century slang for the fashionable set: Henry Fielding, in 1742, has a character resolve to avoid "Beaus and Smarts of all kinds." Fop and macaroni are its companions. Today it belongs in period writing, where it labels a type rather than praising a person. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

    • Smart was eighteenth-century slang for a fashionable person. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Fielding work containing the quotation was first published in 1742. commons.wikimedia.org
    • The resolution belongs to a fictional character in Fielding's Joseph Andrews, rather than to Fielding personally. gutenberg.org
    • The quoted wording is Beaus and Smarts of all kinds. en.wiktionary.org
    • Fop and macaroni are synonyms of this sense. en.wiktionary.org
13. 13
    hard (after right)adjectivedatedSouthern US

    Intense or sharp in feeling; painful. It is usually preceded by the intensifier right.

    Similarhard, bad, nasty, sharp

    Note

    In dialogue it marks a speaker as Southern and a little old-fashioned, and it has nothing to do with being clever.

14. 14
    hard-workingadjectivedialectalAppalachia

    Inclined to work hard and steadily; industrious.

    The foreman said it was a smart crew that worked straight through the heat to get the hay in.

    Folks in the holler called him smart because he worked from sunup to sundown and never once took a day off.

    Similarindustrious, hardworking, diligent, energetic, assiduous

    Oppositelazy, idle, indolent, slothful

    Note

    In Appalachian speech, calling someone smart can praise their work rather than their mind. Source

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • In Appalachian English, smart can mean hard-working. en.wiktionary.org
15. 15
    nounslang

    Clipping of smart money: money put in by investors believed to be well informed, or those investors themselves.