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In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people. Preface to 1828 Dictionary
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SM'ART, n. [This word is probably formed on the root of L. amarus, bitter, that is, sharp.]
SM'ART, v.i.
SM'ART, a.
SM'ART, n. A cant word for a fellow that affects briskness and vivacity.
To feel a
lively, pungent local pain; -- said of some part of the body as the
seat of irritation; as, my finger smarts; these wounds
smart.
Chaucer. Shak. To feel a pungent pain of mind; to feel
sharp pain or grief; to suffer; to feel the sting of evil.
No creature smarts so little as a fool. Pope. He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it. Prov. xi. 15. To cause a smart
in.
"A goad that . . . smarts the flesh." T.
Adams. Quick,
pungent, lively pain; a pricking local pain, as the pain from puncture
by nettles.
"In pain's smart." Chaucer. Severe, pungent pain of mind; pungent
grief; as, the smart of affliction.
To stand 'twixt us and our deserved smart. Milton. Counsel mitigates the greatest smart. Spenser. A fellow who affects smartness, briskness,
and vivacity; a dandy.
[Slang] Fielding. Smart money (see below).
[Canf] Causing a smart; pungent; pricking; as, a
smart stroke or taste.
How smart lash that speech doth give my conscience. Shak. Keen; severe; poignant; as, smart
pain.
Vigorous; sharp; severe.
"Smart skirmishes, in which many fell." Clarendon. Accomplishing, or able to accomplish,
results quickly; active; sharp; clever.
[Colloq.] Efficient; vigorous; brilliant.
"The
stars shine smarter." Dryden. Marked by acuteness or shrewdness; quick in
suggestion or reply; vivacious; witty; as, a smart reply; a
smart saying.
Who, for the poor renown of being smart A sentence or two, . . . which I thought very smart. Addison. Pretentious; showy; spruce; as, a
smart gown.
Brisk; fresh; as, a smart
breeze.
Smart money. Syn. -- Pungent] poignant; sharp; tart; acute; quick; lively; brisk; witty; clever; keen; dashy; showy. -- Smart, Clever. Smart has been much used in New England to describe a person who is intelligent, vigorous, and active; as, a smart young fellow; a smart workman, etc., conciding very nearly with the English sense of clever. The nearest approach to this in England is in such expressions as, he was smart (pungent or witty) in his reply, etc.; but smart and smartness, when applied to persons, more commonly refer to dress; as, a smart appearance; a smart gown, etc. | ||||||||