Unnumbered source etymology
Original entry ↗smart; spruce; affected; simpering
To smile in a way that is affected, smug, insolent or contemptuous.
An uneven, often crooked smile that is insolent, self-satisfied, conceited or scornful. · A forced or affected smile.
From Middle English smirken, from Old English smearcian (“to smile”), corresponding to smerian + -cian (English -k; compare talk and stalk from, respectively, tell and steal). The former element from Proto-Germanic *smarōną (“to mock, scoff at”), and the latter from Proto-Germanic *-kōną. Compare Middle High German smielen/smieren (“to smile”) ( > obsolete, rare German schmieren). Doublet of smile. The specific meaning of a mocking or unpleasant, malicious smile or grin develops in Early Modern English, but until the 18th century, it could still be used to describe a generic smile.
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These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
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"To smile in a way that is affected, smug, insolent or contemptuous."
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