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imp. (and rare p. p.) of Smite.

Dirty foul. [Obs.] Chaucer.

down; a bringing to naught; subversion; demolition; ruin; slaying; devastation. The Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction. Esth. ix. 5. 'Tis safer to be that which we destroy Than by destruction dwell in doubtful joy. Shak. Destruction of venerable establishment. Hal…

nd rapidity, as a fluid; to rush forth as a fluid from confinement; to flow copiously. He smote the rock that the waters gushed out. Ps ixxviii 20. A sea of blood gushed from the gaping wound. Spenser.

in the Middle Ages, for breaking metal armor. Chaucer. Death with his mace petrific . . . smote. Milton.

See Diaphragm, n., 2. Smote him into the midriff with a stone. Milton.

the rabble; the common herd; also, a lean, ill- conditioned beast, esp. a deer. [Obs.] He smote of the people seventy men, and fifty thousand of the rascal. Wyclif (1 Kings [1 Samuel] vi. 19). Poor men alone No, no; the noblest deer hath them [horns] as huge as the rascal. Shak.

o him the other also. Matt. v. 39. And David . . . took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead. 1 Sam. xvii. 49.

operative; efficacious; potent. [Obs.] Chaucer. Lifting up his virtuous staff on high, He smote the sea, which calméd was with speed. Spenser. Every virtuous plant and healing herb. Milton.

A rod; a stick; a staff. [Obs.] P. Plowman. If men smote it with a yerde. Chaucer.