Etymology
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smudge (v.)

early 15c., smogen "to soil, smear or stain with dirt or filth, blacken," a word of obscure origin. Compare smutch and its variant smouch, Middle English smod "filth, obscene behavior" (mid-13c., also a surname); Middle Dutch besmodden, smoddich, Middle Low German smudden.

The meaning "to rub out or in" is by 1865. Related: Smudged; smudging. The noun meaning "a dirty mark or stain, spot, smear" is attested by 1768, from the verb.

The smudge meaning "make a smoky fire" is by 1860, also of unknown origin, but perhaps related. According to OED now dialectal and North American. OED also gives it in an earlier, obsolete sense of "cure (herring, etc.) by smoking" (1590s).

The related noun smudge is attested by 1767 as "a suffocating smoke" (to repel mosquitoes, etc.); from 1806 as "heap of combustibles ignited and emitting dense smoke." Hence smudge-pot (1903). Smudge-stick as a Native American (Crow tribe) artifact is by 1908

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smudgy (adj.)

1859, "dirty, stained, or blackened," from smudge (n.) + -y (2). The meaning "blurry, indistinct" is by 1865. Related: Smudginess.


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smutch (v.)

"blacken with soot or smoke," 1610s, a variant of smudge (v.). As a noun from 1520s, "black spot or stain." Related: Smutchy "marked by or as if by smutch" (1570s).

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smooch (v.)

"to kiss," especially romantically or passionately, 1932, American English, an alteration of the dialectal verb smouch "to kiss" (1570s), which is possibly imitative of the sound of kissing (compare German dialectal schmutzen "to kiss"). An earlier alteration produced smudge (v.) "to kiss, caress" (1844). Related: Smooched; smoocher (1946); smooching. As a noun, "a kiss," by 1942.

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