smart
verb

- to feel upset and angry because of failure or criticism

The Cambridge Dictionary

—
PHRASE ORIGIN

The word "smarts" (as in "that smarts," meaning "that hurts" or "that stings" is derived from the Old English verb smeortan, which meant "to sting, feel pain, or cause sharp pain”, and is related to the Old High German smerzan (meaning "to pain"), which is the root of the modern German schmerzen (to hurt).

Over time, it expanded to include emotional pain (e.g., "the smart of rejection") and even mental sharpness (e.g., "a smart remark"), possibly because both sharp pain and sharp intellect "cut" or "sting" in their own ways.

—
SMART PHRASES

- That smarts = that’s painful, that hurts

- Smart money = money belonging to smart or clever people.

- Street smart = having intelligence, wisdom, and shrewdness in the ways of the real world, especially life in a city (i.e. "the streets").

- Look smart! =  Hurry up!  Be quick!

- Get smart with someone = to make disrespectful comments to someone

- Smart arse (ass) = one who is particularly flippant or insolent or tends to make snide remarks or jokes

- Smart as a whip = very smart (very intelligent)

- Smarty pants = to be really clever (used sarcastically)

—
SYNONYMS

barb, bite, burn, feel a sting (annoyed, offended, wounded), hurt, irk, irritate, jab, jar, jolt, lance, needle, nip, pain, pang, pierce, pinch, prick, scald, scorch, sear, seethe, sharp pain, singe, SMART, spike, stab, sting, wince, wound, zing

—
SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“Without knowing the etymology, it’s almost impossible to understand how the verb ‘SMART’ can mean ‘feel pain’.”

—
P L E A S E   S U P P O R T   O W A D

On evenings and weekends, I research and write your daily OWAD newsletter together with Helga—my lovely wife and coaching partner, and our eagle-eyed daughter, Jennifer.

It remains FREE, AD-FREE, and ALIVE thanks to voluntary donations from appreciative readers.

If you aren’t already, please consider supporting us — even a small donation, equivalent to just 1-cup-of-coffee a month, would help us in covering expenses for mailing, site-hosting, maintenance, and service.

Just head over to DonorBox:
Please help keep OWAD alive

or

Bank transfer:
Paul Smith
IBAN: DE75 7316 0000 0002 5477 40

Important: please state as ’Verwendungszweck’: “OWAD donation” and the email address used to subscribe to OWAD.

Thanks so much,

Paul, Helga, & Jenny Smith

- Feedback, questions, new word suggestions to: paul@smith.de

- OWAD homepage, word archive, FAQs, publications, events, and more: www.owad.de

---

- to unsubscribe from OWAD, CLICK HERE