smuts

Noun

smut (countable and uncountable, plural smuts)

1. (uncountable) Soot.

   Synonyms:

   filth

2. (countable) A flake of ash or soot.
   • She reached it soon after half-past two. She found its gloomy nineteenth-century façade, black with the smuts of ninety years, a little daunting, and mounted its broad steps in some trepidation. But she rang the bell hard and knocked firmly.1915, Edgar Jepson, “The Reluctant Duke”, in Happy Pollyooly: The Rich Little Poor Girl, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 135
3. (uncountable) Sexually vulgar material; something that is sexual in a dirty way; pornographic material.
   • The semiology of smut remains fairly unchanging: pasties, thongs, fetishwear-lite, simulated masturbation with the most unlikely of objects.2013 October 9, Suzanne Moore, “Sex is everywhere you look, but the semiology of smut never changes”, in The Guardian, →ISSN

   Synonyms:

   filth

4. (uncountable) Obscene language; ribaldry; obscenity.
   • He does not stand upon decency […] but will talk smut, though a priest and his mother be in the room.2026 October 12 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “MONDAY, May 25, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 39; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New...
5. Any of a range of fungi, mostly Ustilaginomycetes, that cause plant disease in grasses, including cereal crops; the disease so caused.
   • If the petals of your garden dianthus (pinks) are stained brown, they too are victims of similar smut.2021 June 16, Phil Gates, “Country diary: in the fight to survive, red campion is a surprise battleground”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
6. Bad, soft coal containing earthy matter, found in the immediate locality of faults.

See all 11 meanings of smut