"smart" = "considerable (in number, amount, extent, etc.)"

[Mullins, Bill]

It seems related to "right smart", which I've seen used to mean "very"
or "considerable"

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 11:29 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: "smart" = "considerable (in number, amount, extent, etc.)"
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> Subject:      "smart" = "considerable (in number, amount,
> extent, etc.)"
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
>
> OED has this from 1778-1882, marked "Chiefly dial. and U.S."
> Here is an ex. from more than a century later. It caught my
> eye because at first I thought it was only a bad metaphor.
>
> "I get used to the dust...fine dust like talcum powder....It
> piles up wherever it finds a niche...The dust is smart enough
> to ground an aircraft."  --Major Richard C. Slater, "Notes
> from a Journal: Afghanistan...," War, Literature, & the Arts
> (16 [2004]: 151).
>
> Is anyone familiar with this usage?
>
> JL
>
>
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