smittle

Frequentative from Middle English smitten (“to smear; smudge; stain; taint”), from Old English smittian (“to defile; pollute; befoul”). Cognate with German schmitzen (“to pollute”), Danish smitte (“to infect”). Related also to smite.

smittle (third-person singular simple present smittles, present participle smittling, simple past and past participle smittled)

1. (obsolete, UK, transitive) To infect.

smittle

1. (obsolete, UK, dialect) Infectious.

smittle (plural smittles)

1. (obsolete, UK, dialect) An infection.

• smit

• “smittle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.