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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1971 (SND Vol. VIII).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

SMIRK, n.¹, v.¹, adj. Also dim. or freq. forms smirkle, smircle, smerkle. Sc. forms and usages:

I. n. 1. A pleasant smile, a friendly expression, in earlier Sc. without the pejorative overtones of modern Eng. usage (Sc. 1825 Jam.). Also fig. Adj. smirkie, -y, having a good-natured, amiable expression, friendly-looking (s.Sc. 1825 Jam.; Bnff. 1866 Gregor D. Bnff. 170), in good health or fettle, well-looking, “on top of the world” (Gregor). Combs. smirkie-faced (s.Sc. 1825 Jam.), smirky-like, id.Sc. 1728 Ramsay Poems (S.T.S.) H. 25:
Rejoicing in the artfu' Height, How smirky look'd the little Wight.Edb. 1773 Fergusson Poems (S.T.S.) II.:
[To] pace awa' wi smirky face In siller or in gowden lace.Per. a.1825 Donald & Flora 116:
Tis night — an the moon's blushing smircles appear.Lnk. 1844 J. Lemon St Mungo 62:
Auld mither nature, wi' a smirk in ilk feature.Edb. 1856 J. Ballantine Poems 56:
Auld Barber Watty, sae smirky an' waly.Per. a.1886 Harp Per. (Ford 1893) 283:
O! wha is yon carle, that's sae smirkie An' looks sae weel-pleased ower me a'?Abd. 1921 Swatches o' Hamespun 10:
Meggie keekit ower her shooder fell smirky like.

II. v. To smile in a pleasant friendly way, to beam, to wear a smiling amiable expression, to have a roguish or flirtatious smile (Sc. 1880 Jam.). Also in freq. or intensive form smirkle, id., “to laugh in a suppressed way” (Sc. 1808 Jam.). Also fig. Adv. smirkingly, in a smiling way, laughingly.Sc. 1702 Atholl MSS. (30 Sept.):
I have gott home our picturs I'm extreemly pleased with yours I can never looke at it but it makes me laugh it smirkles so in my face.Ayr. 1786 Burns Inventory 54:
My sonsie, smirking, dear-bought Bess.Slk. 1822 Hogg Tales (1874) 679:
Wha's your mistress, my little bonny dow? You're nodding and smirking, are you?Sc. 182–4 Scott St Ronan's W. ii.:
Mony a bonny smirking lassie.Sc. 1825 Lord Derwentwater in Child Ballads No. 208 A. iii.:
The very first line that my lord did read, He gave a smirkling smile.Fif. 1839 T. Hanna T. Chalmers (1852) IV. 74:
Smiling and smerkling at the more ludicrous passages.Per. 1857 J. Stewart Sketches 28:
How smirkingly arch Your staff is presented!Mry. 1865 W. Tester Poems 149:
Halflins fou, wi smirkin een.Kcb. 1901 Crockett Dark o' the Moon xiv.:
This witch of Endor smirked as she played “The tailor fell through the bed.”Sh. 1916 J. Burgess Rasmie's Smaa Murr (Iktober 10):
A lass 'at haes sense is no aye smirkin.

¶III. adj. Fig., pleasant, smiling, attractive. Only in quot. below.Edb. 1791 J. Learmont Poems 43:
He . . . wad far rather dern i' neuks Wi' lasses smirk . . . Heaven's Writ shaws whilk road is best to follow, Fu sweet an' smirk.