Schmear

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Money or favors given illegally to influence someone ; a daub or spread of soft material ; exaggerated hype or publicity campaign
2. An illicit payment made to corrupt officials ; a coating or layer of thick substance applied to a surface ; aggressive marketing or hype with dubious claims
3. A payoff or kickback exchanged secretly ; a smudge or application of paste-like matter ; overstated promotion or sensational publicity

Etymology: Yiddish "shmir" meant "smear" or "spread," and the English noun "schmear" came into use as a borrowing of that sense. Its closest relative in English is "smear" itself: the two are doublets, meaning they descend from the same source but reached English by different routes. The "schm-" beginning is a Yiddish-influenced form of the same root, with the German "schmieren" (to smear, spread) sitting alongside it. The more surprising twist is the sense "bribe." In Yiddish, "shmirn" meant both "to smear" and "to bribe," and German "schmieren" carries the same double meaning. The logic is that a bribe greases the wheels of a transaction, lubricating a deal the way butter spreads across bread. So a word for spreading a substance on a surface came to describe slipping money to someone, and that bribery sense is the one most English speakers now associate with it.

Synonyms: spread, smear, daub, coat