smut / smət/ • n. 1. a small flake of soot or other dirt. ∎  a mark or smudge made by such a flake. 2. a disease of grains in which parts of the ear change to black powder, caused by a fungus of the order Ustilaginales. 3. obscene or lascivious talk, writing, or pictures. • v. (smutted , smutting ) [tr.] [often as adj.] (smutted) 1. mark with flakes or soot or other dirt. 2. infect (a plant) with smut: smutted wheat.DERIVATIVES: smut·ti·ly / -təlē/ adv.smut·ti·ness n.smut·ty adj. (smut·ti·er , smut·ti·est ) .

smut A plant disease caused by a fungus of the order Ustilaginales. Many types of plant can be affected, but smuts are particularly important in cereals and other grasses. The symptoms include the formation of masses of black soot-like spores, and infected plants often show some degree of distortion.

smut blacken, smudge XVI; affect (grain) with smut XVII. Parallel formations with sm..t are OE. smitt smear, smittian pollute, smītan SMITE, ME. ismotted, besmotered stained (XIV), and also LG. smutt, MHG. smuz, smutzen (G. schmutz, schmutzen).
So sb., fungous disease of plants marked by blackness; black or sooty mark; indecent language XVII. Hence smutty (of grain) XVI; dirty, blackened, obscene XVII.

smut A plant disease caused by a fungus of the order Ustilaginales. Many types of plant can be affected, but smuts are particularly important in cereals and other grasses. The symptoms include the formation of masses of black soot-like spores, and infected plants often show some degree of distortion.

smut Group of plant diseases caused by parasitic fungi, also called smuts, that attack many cereals. The diseases are named after the sooty black masses of reproductive spores produced by the fungi. See also parasite