Other forms: smudged, smudges, smudging
To smudge is to smear a mark by rubbing it. Smudge the ink, smudged mascara, a smudge on the glass.
It needs the mark to be still wet or soft, which is why ink, charcoal and make-up smudge and dried paint does not. In make-up, smudging is deliberate — a smudged eyeliner is a technique rather than an accident. As a noun a smudge is the mark itself. Note smudgy; and that the word is related to smutch, an older form meaning to dirty.
1verbsmudgeTo smear a mark by rubbing it.
“Don't touch the painting yet, or you'll smudge the wet paint.”
2nounleftThe mark left by such a smear.
“There was a smudge of lipstick on the rim of his coffee cup.”
smudge is a smeared mark.
The verb is of uncertain origin, related to smutch, an older word meaning to smear or dirty. Smut is probably from the same family.
Derived from the verb (see below). a doublet of smutch.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA