Word of the day: smut

The word of the day is smut:

1. a particle of soot; sooty matter.
2. a black or dirty mark; smudge.
3. indecent language or publications; obscenity.
4. Plant Pathology.
1. a disease of plants, especially cereal grasses, characterized by the conversion of affected parts into black, powdery masses of spores, caused by fungi of the order Ustilaginales.
2. a fungus causing this disease.

1664, "black mark, stain," from verbsmutten "debase, defile" (early 15c.),cognate with M.H.G. smotzen "makedirty," from W.Gmc. *smutt- (cf. M.H.G.smuz "grease, dirt," Ger. Schmutz "dirt,"Ger. schmutzen "to make dirty"). Themeaning "indecent or obscenelanguage" is first attested 1668 (impliedin smutty).

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/smut)

"Between smuts, sticky salt air, and the occasional burning ember from the stacks, the experienced traveller locked away the bulk of her wardrobe."

 - Laurie R. King, Dreaming Spies (2015)