smith

plural smiths

1. A craftsperson who works metal into desired forms using a hammer and other tools, sometimes heating the metal to make it more workable, especially a blacksmith.

   The smiths themselves were a grand lot of fellows, full of a robust, and sometimes Rabelaisian sense of humour, and between "heats," they could be most entertaining.

   1945 January and February, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—III”, in Railway Magazine, page 13

2. broadlyOne who makes anything; wright.
3. archaicAn artist.

present singular third person smiths · participle present smithing · participle past smithed · past smithed

1. To forge, to form, usually on an anvil; by heating and pounding.

   Sigurd took the very best sword That the Dwarfs had ever smithed.

   1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume I, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 258

plural Smiths · alternative Smithe · alternative Smyth · alternative Smythe

1. countableuncountableAn English surname originating as an occupation (the most common in Britain, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand).

   That’s John’s parents, the Smiths.

   5 more examples

   Patingham selmonger, who, as it was reported, reneuced the Arians opinion before he dyed. The xvi. daye were burned [at the stake], at Staines. Robert Smith[,] painter, who in the tyme of his imprisonment, wrate byuers thinges in Metre, which were after put in print. At Stortford Stephan Harwoode Alebruer. And at Ware Thomas Fuſſe Jerkenmaker.

   1559, Thomas Lanquet, Thomas Cooper, Robert Crowley, An Epitome of Cronicles, London: Thomas Marshe

   This ſyſtem, as it was much eſteemed by many antient fathers of the chriſtian church, ſo after the reformation it was adopted by feveral divines of the moſt eminent piety and learning and of the moſt amiable manners; particularly, by Dr. Ralph Cudworth, by Dr. Henry More, and by Mr. John Smith of Cambridge.

   1759, Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, pages 360–361

   John is a most excellent name, and Smith is a surname which is worthy of respect and honor, but wo to the man on whom they are conjoined! For John Smith to aspire to senatorial dignities or to the laurel of a poet is simply ridiculous. Who is John Smith? He is lost in the multitude of John Smiths, and individual fame is impossible.

   1852 August 28, D. H. Jacques, “A Chapter on Names”, in The Knickerbocker, or, New-York Monthly Magazine, volume XL, page 114

   [Smith is] Common to every village in England, north, south, east, and west. There are 300,000 Smiths in England.

   1901, Charles Wareing Bardsley, “Smith”, in A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances, London: Henry Frowde, page 699

   Jada Pinkett Smith found herself at the center of conflict when her husband Will Smith slapped comedian Chris Rock at the Oscars ceremony March 27. Rock joked about Pinkett Smith’s shaved head – a look she has said is more than a style preference.

   2022 June 1, Kristen Rogers, “What causes alopecia, a ‘devastating’ hair loss condition affecting Jada Pinkett Smith”, in CNN, archived from the original on 20 Oct 2022

2. countableuncountableA male given name transferred from the surname.
3. Several places in the United States:
   1. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in LaPorte County, Indiana.
   2. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Harlan County, Kentucky.
   3. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in York County, South Carolina.
   4. countableuncountableA small unincorporated community in Lyon County, Nevada, named for an early settler family.
   5. countableuncountableA ghost town in Humboldt County, California.

      Synonyms: Smiths Turnout

   6. countableuncountableA number of townships in the United States, listed under Smith Township.
4. countableuncountableA hamlet in the Municipal District of Lesser Slave River, northern Alberta, Canada.
5. Several rivers:
   1. countableuncountableA river in Douglas County, Oregon, United States, a tributary of the Umpqua River.
   2. countableuncountableA river in Montana, United States, a tributary of the Missouri.
   3. countableuncountableA river in Yukon and British Columbia, Canada, a tributary of the Liard River.
   4. countableuncountableA river in Virginia and North Carolina, United States, a tributary of the Dan River.
   5. countableuncountableA river in California, United States, flowing from the Klamath Mountains into the Pacific.
   6. countableuncountableA river in New Hampshire, United States, a tributary of the Pemigewasset River.
   7. countableuncountableA river in Linn County, Oregon, United States, a tributary of the McKenzie River.
   8. countableuncountableA river in Quebec, Canada, a tributary of the Montmorency River.
6. countableuncountableSmith College (a women's college in Massachusetts, U.S.)