smerlin

[Etym.doubtful.] Ichthy.: Cobites aculeata . ( Good rich & Porter .) smer-wõrt, subst . [Mid. Eng. smer smear, and wort. From the use of the plant in ointments.] Bot.: Aristolochia rotunda . smew (ew as û), 8. [Perhaps a contract. of ice mew =ice-gull; cf. Ger. wei e nonne=the smew; eismowe the fulmar (q. v.).] Ornith.: Mergus albellus , called also the Smee or Nun, frequenting the sea-shore, and also inland ponds and lakes in Eu rope and America. The adult male is about sev enteen inches long; head, chin and neck white, a black patch round the eyes, and over the back of the head is a green streak forming, with some white elongated feathers, a kind of crest; back black, tail gray, wings black and white, under surface IMG:content-1627.png:[ocr errors][merged small] white, penciled with gray on the flanks. The female is smaller, with plumage chiefly reddish-brown and gray. The Smew is a shy bird; it flies well, but like most Divers, walks badly, from the backward position of its legs. smick-er, vi . [Sw. smickra ; Danish smigre .] [SMICKER, a.] To look amorously or wantonly. *smick-er, adj . [A. S. smicer neat, elegant.] Gay, spruce, smart, amorous, wanton. chin, bench; go, gem; thin, this; smile *smick-er-ing, s . [SMICKER, v.] An amorous inclination. "We had a young doctor, who rode by our coach and seem'd to have a smickering to our young lady of Pilton." -Dryden: To Mrs. Steward , let. 35. *smick'-ět, s . [Eng. smock ; dim in. suff. -et .] A little smock, a shift. "The white smickets wave below." Combe : Dr. Syntax , ii. 5. *smick-lý, adv . [SMICKER.] Smartly, trimly, amorously. ( Ford : Sun's Darling , ii. 1.) †smick-smock, s. [Cf. smell-smock.] Bot .: Cardamine pratensis . smid-dum, s. [SMEDDUM.] smiddum-tails, s. pl. Mining: The slimy mud deposited in ore-washing. smid-dỹ, s. [SMITHY.] smift, s. [Etym. doubtful.] Mining: A match of paper saturated with niter or other combustible substance, for igniting a charge of powder; a fuse. Paper rubbed over with gunpowder and grease is also used by miners.