Meaning

noun slanderous defamation

verb stain by smearing or daubing with a dirty substance

noun a thin tissue or blood sample spread on a glass slide and stained for cytologic examination and diagnosis under a microscope

originFrom Middle English smeren, smerien, from Old English smerian, smyrian, smierwan (“to anoint or rub with grease, oil, etc.”), from Proto-West Germanic *smirwijan, from Proto-Germanic *smirwijaną. Doublet of schmear. Cognate with Saterland Frisian smeere, Dutch smeren (“to smear, lubricate”), Low German smeren, German schmieren (“to smear, lubricate”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål smøre (“to…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0