schmieren

• schmirben, schmirwen (southern, obsolete)

From Middle High German smirn, from older smirwen, from Old High German smirwen, from Proto-West Germanic *smirwijan, from Proto-Germanic *smirwijaną, derived from *smerwą, whence dated German Schmer (“fat”).

The loss of -w- is mostly a Central German development; compare fahl and falb, etc. Cognate with Dutch smeren, English smear.

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• Rhymes: -iːʁən

schmieren (weak, third-person singular present schmiert, past tense schmierte, past participle geschmiert, auxiliary haben)

1. to smear
2. to butter (bread)
3. to grease, oil, lubricate
4. to bribe
5. (colloquial) to scribble, to scrawl
6. to deface (with writing or imagery)

   Hakenkreuze an Mauern schmieren

   to deface walls with swastikas

• “schmieren” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “schmieren” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “schmieren” in Duden online
• “schmieren” in OpenThesaurus.de

From Middle High German smirn, from older smirwen, from Old High German smirwen, from Proto-West Germanic *smirwijan, from Proto-Germanic *smirwijaną.

Cognate with German schmieren, Dutch smeren, English smear, Icelandic smyrja.

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃmiəʀən/

schmieren (third-person singular present schmiert, past participle geschmiert, auxiliary verb hunn)

1. (transitive) to smear, to spread
2. (transitive) to grease, to lubricate
3. (transitive) to bribe, to butter up
4. (intransitive) to scrawl, to write messily