Wordsmith.org: the magic of words


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Subscribe

Archives



Jul 7, 2020
This week’s theme
Shirts and pants as metaphors

This week’s words
redshirt
smarty-pants
sansculotte
descamisado
bloody shirt

Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

smarty-pants

PRONUNCIATION:
(SMAR-tee-pants)

MEANING:
noun: Someone who presents as being obnoxiously clever.

ETYMOLOGY:
From smart, from Old English smeart + pants, short for pantaloons, plural of pantaloon. St. Pantaleone/Pantalone was a popular saint in Venice. As a result, it was also a common name among the Venetians. As a result, a comic character in the Italian commedia dell’arte was named Pantalone. The leggings this character wore became known as pantalone (plural pantaloni). And that became pantaloons in English. Earliest documented use: 1932.

USAGE:
“There’s satisfaction in seeing a smarty-pants taken down a peg.”
Hadley Freeman; The Critical Drubbing for Will Self’s Book Shows There’s a Subtle Art to Memoir; The Guardian (London, UK); Nov 16, 2019.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
People's souls are like gardens. You can't turn your back on someone because his garden's full of weeds. You have to give him water and lots of sunshine. -Nancy Farmer, author (b. 7 Jul 1941)

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2024 Wordsmith