shmatte

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Yiddish שמאַטע (shmate); originally from Polish szmata.

Pronunciation

Noun

shmatte (plural shmattes)

  1. (Yinglish) A rag.
  2. (Yinglish) An old article of clothing.
  3. (fashion industry, clothing retail, slang) Any item of clothing.
    • 1983 April 9, Walta Borawski, “Midler in Boston”, in Gay Community News, page 12:
      She skipped onto a minimally decorated stage in a pale salmon pink schmate covered in bows, loose-fitting and obviously filled with surprises.
    • 2007 December 12, David M. Halbfinger, “A Film Producer Guided More by His Heart Than by His Calculator”, in New York Times‎:
      I said, Why am I in the shmatte business? Mr. Kimmel said of his beginners luck.
    • 2020, Emily Segal, Mercury Retrograde, New York: Deluge Books, →ISBN:
      In addition to having the barely perceptible but definitely present scummy vibe of an early 20th-century schmatte business, it was like the ultimate perversion of the male literary impulse.

Translations

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