Smuts, Jan Christian Smuts
(noun) South African statesman and soldier (1870-1950)
Source: WordNet® 3.1
smuts
plural of smut
• musts, stums
Source: Wiktionary
Smut, n. Etym: [Akin to Sw. smuts, Dan. smuds, MHG. smuz, G. schmutz, D. smet a spot or stain, smoddig, smodsig, smodderig, dirty, smodderen to smut; and probably to E. smite. See Smite, v. t., and cf. Smitt, Smutch.]
1. Foul matter, like soot or coal dust; also, a spot or soil made by such matter.
2. (Mining)
Definition: Bad, soft coal, containing much earthy matter, found in the immediate locality of faults.
3. (Bot.)
Definition: An affection of cereal grains producing a swelling which is at length resolved into a powdery sooty mass. It is caused by parasitic fungi of the genus Ustilago. Ustilago segetum, or U. Carbo, is the commonest kind; that of Indian corn is Ustilago maydis.
4. Obscene language; ribaldry; obscenity. He does not stand upon decency . . . but will talk smut, though a priest and his mother be in the room. Addison. Smut mill, a machine for cleansing grain from smut.
Smut, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Smutted; p. pr. & vb. n. Smutting.]
1. To stain or mark with smut; to blacken with coal, soot, or other dirty substance.
2. To taint with mildew, as grain. Bacon.
3. To blacken; to sully or taint; to tarnish.
4. To clear of smut; as, to smut grain for the mill.
Smut, v. i.
1. To gather smut; to be converted into smut; to become smutted. Mortimer.
2. To give off smut; to crock.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
22 September 2024
(noun) a beginning from which an enterprise is launched; “he uses other people’s ideas as a springboard for his own”; “reality provides the jumping-off point for his illusions”; “the point of departure of international comparison cannot be an institution but must be the function it carries out”
The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking as the modern beverage appeared in modern-day Yemen. In the middle of the 15th century in Sufi shrines where coffee seeds were first roasted and brewed for drinking. The Yemenis procured the coffee beans from the Ethiopian Highlands.
