smarts

1. 1
   nouncolloquialUSplural

   Practical intelligence or quick mental ability.

   Like a Swiss Army knife for the mind: the handy know-how to deal with whatever comes up.

   He relied on street smarts to navigate the unfamiliar city at night.

   Her smarts turned a small corner shop into a national chain.

   Similarbrains, savvy, intelligence, wits, nous

   Note

   Grammatically plural, with no singular in this meaning, and chiefly American and informal in register. Verb agreement wavers: Philip K. Dick's Valis (1981) has "the smarts of a good pharmacist ... is worth more," while Fern Michaels writes "street smarts are important." Plural agreement is the safer choice. Its best-known compound, street smarts, is set against being book smart, as practical wit against classroom learning.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of smart.

   A vinegar splash smarts when it lands on broken skin.

   His pride still smarts from the public criticism.

   Note

   Both halves of the verb live in this form. A wound or a splash of vinegar simply smarts on its own, but something can also smart the skin it touches. The pain may be bodily or a grief of the mind, as when pride smarts from criticism. Keep it apart from the noun for intelligence, which has the same spelling but is a plural noun, not a verb.

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