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smidgen

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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Origin uncertain; possibly from smitch ((originally Scotland, chiefly US) very small amount or quantity)[1][2] + possibly -in (a variant of -ing (suffix forming nouns denoting things considered collectively)).[3] Smitch is possibly:

Pronunciation

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Noun

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smidgen (plural smidgens) (originally US, informal)

  1. Chiefly in the form a smidgen of: a very small amount or quantity; a bit, a trace.
    Synonyms: drop, pinch, smidge, smidget, smidgy, (originally Scotland, chiefly US) smitch, touch; see also Thesaurus:modicum
    Antonyms: see Thesaurus:lot
    Move it a smidgen to the right.
    Would you like some more cake? ―I’ll have a smidgen.
    • [1824], Robin Baragwaneth [pseudonym], The Wooden Horse, for the Rounder, and the Horse without a Head. [], Penzance, Cornwall: [] J. Thomas, →OCLC, page 10:
      Unkle Will says when he tould her to mind the siggering in the Crock,—she run to the Spence for a smidgen of skalded cream.
    • 1889 February, “The Pipeses’ Party”, in Frank Leslie’s Pleasant Hours. Devoted to Light and Entertaining Literature, volume XLVI, New York, N.Y.: Mrs. Frank Leslie [Miriam Leslie], [], →OCLC, page 473, column 2:
      It's jest a meracle we wa'n't all blowed to smidgens, the hull b'ilin' lot of us.
    • 1898, Francis Bartow Lloyd, “The Farmer and the Broncho”, in Lily C. Lloyd, editor, Sketches of Country Life: Humor, Wisdom and Pathos from the “Sage of Rocky Creek” [], Birmingham, Ala.: Press of Roberts & Son, →OCLC, page 80:
      He didn't look the least smidgen like our Mart Mayo, but if they was both on the track in a lyin match, whilst he might not beat old Mart, I am satisfied he would make the track devilish dusty for a few heats anyhow.
    • 1907 September, Will[iam] N[athaniel] Harben, chapter XXXVII, in Mam’ Linda [], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 304:
      I could listen to forty million men like this candidate expound his views and it wouldn't alter me one smidgen in the belief that Carson Dwight has acted only as a true Christian would.
    • 1921, William Patterson White, “The Showdown”, in The Heart of the Range, Garden City, N.Y.; Toronto, Ont.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 187:
      Aw right, you go right in and tell 'em the truth, all of it, every last smidgen.
    • 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter 4, in Jeeves in the Offing, Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books, published 1963 (1975 printing), →OCLC, page 37:
      ['][T]he girl's a pill like Phyllis, who always does what Daddy tells her.' / 'No will of her own?' / 'Not a smidgeon.[']
  2. (by extension) Chiefly in the form a smidgen of a: a very small or insignificant person or thing; also, an instance of such a person or thing.
    (small): Synonyms: (sometimes offensive) dwarf, (sometimes offensive) midget, pipsqueak, (informal) shorty
    (small): Antonyms: see Thesaurus:giant
    (insignificant): Synonyms: see Thesaurus:nonentity
    (insignificant): Antonyms: see Thesaurus:important person

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ smitch, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024.
  2. ^ smitch, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.;
  3. ^ smidgen, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024.
  4. ^ smitch, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2024.
  5. ^ smeech, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024; smeech1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  6. ^ smẹ̄k(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  7. ^ Joseph Bosworth (1882) “smīc”, in T[homas] Northcote Toller, editor, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary [], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, pages 888–889.
  8. ^ smidgen, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  9. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “smidgen (n.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  10. ^ smutch, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024.
  11. ^ smutch, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
  12. ^ smitch, n.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.

Anagrams

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