smatter
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /ˈsmæ.tə/
  • (GA) IPA: /ˈsmæ.təɹ/, [ˈsmæ.ɾɚ]
Verb

smatter (smatters, present participle smattering; past and past participle smattered)

  1. (intransitive) To talk superficially; to babble, chatter.
    • 1533, John Heywood, A Mery Play Betwene the Pardoner and the Frere, London: Wyllyam Rastell,
      What standest thou there all the day smatterynge
    • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act III, Scene 5,
      And why, my lady wisdom? hold your tongue,
      Good prudence; smatter with your gossips, go.
    • 1733, Jonathan Swift “On Poetry” in ''The Poetical Works of Jonathan Swift, London: William Pickering, 1833, Volume 2, pp. 63-64,
      For poets, law makes no provision;
      The wealthy have you in derision:
      Of state affairs you cannot smatter;
      Are awkward when you try to flatter;
  2. (transitive) To speak (a language) with spotty or superficial knowledge.
    • 1891, Robert Louis Stevenson, In the South Seas, New York: Scribner, 1896, Chapter 2, p. 9,
      The languages of Polynesia are easy to smatter, though hard to speak with elegance.
  3. (transitive, figuratively) To study or approach superficially; to dabble in.
  4. To have a slight taste, or a slight, superficial knowledge, of anything; to smack.
Translations Translations Noun

smatter (plural smatters)

  1. A smattering qual small number or amount.
    a smatter of applause
  2. A smattering qual superficial knowledge.



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