Smoothe

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Having an even, level surface with no roughness, bumps or ridges ; to make a surface even by removing its unevenness
2. Describing a surface that is level and free of coarseness or irregularities ; to flatten or even out a rough surface
3. Level and unbroken in texture, without any lumps or rough patches ; to press or rub a surface until it becomes even

Etymology: "Smoothe" is simply an older or variant spelling of "smooth," with the final "e" carried over from the way Middle English spellings were written. The word itself traces back to Old English "smēþe" and "smōþ," which were already in use before the Norman Conquest. Those forms descend from a Proto-West Germanic ancestor, "*smanþī," whose origin is unknown, so the deeper history stops at that reconstructed starting point. Across the North Sea and beyond, the word has close relatives. Scots has "smuith," Saterland Frisian "smoud," Low German "smood" and "smödig," and Dutch "smeuïg." The Dutch form, "smeuïg," descends from an earlier "smeudig," and the Low German "smödig" carries the sense "malleable, ductile" alongside "smooth." That shared sense of something that yields easily under the hand is a useful clue to what the old speakers had in mind.