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smut

 
Dictionary: smut   (smŭt) pronunciation
n.
    1. A particle of dirt.
    2. A smudge made by soot, smoke, or dirt.
    1. Obscenity in speech or writing.
    2. Pornography.
    1. Any of various plant diseases, especially of cereal grasses, caused by parasitic fungi of the order Ustilaginales that form black powdery masses of spores on the affected parts.
    2. A fungus causing such a disease.

v., smut·ted, smut·ting, smuts.

v.tr.
  1. To blacken or smudge, as with smoke or grime.
  2. To affect (a plant) with smut.
  3. To free (grain, for example) from smut.
  4. To make obscene.
v.intr.
  1. To emit smut.
  2. To be or become blackened or smudged.
  3. To become affected with smut, as a plant.

[From Middle English smotten, smutten, to defile.]

smuttily smut'ti·ly adv.
smuttiness smut'ti·ness n.
smutty smut'ty adj.

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The dark powdery masses of “smut spores” (teliospores) that develop in living plant tissues infected by species of Ustilago, Tilletia, and similar plant parasitic fungi. Molecular and ultrastructural data show that smut fungi comprise two phylogenetically distinct lines within the Basidiomycota; recent classification places them in two different classes, Ustilaginomycetes and Urediniomycetes. Ustilaginomycetes contains most of the smut fungi, and several groups of morphologically distinct, nonsmut plant parasites, including Exobasidium, Graphiola, and Microstroma. Smut fungi belonging to the genus Microbotryum, best known as anther smuts of Caryophyllaceae, are now placed within the Urediniomycetes with rust fungi and allied taxa. Ustilaginomycetes and Urediniomycetes also contain a number of saprotrophic, yeastlike fungi that are related to the plant parasitic smuts. Yeastlike saprotrophs that produce teliospores include Tilletiaria in the Ustilaginomycetes, and Leucosporidium, Rhodosporidium, and Sporobolomyces in the Urediniomycetes. Yeastlike saprotrophs in the Ustilaginomycetes that do not form teliospores but reproduce in another manner similar to Ustilago and Tilletia include Pseudozyma and Tilletiopsis, respectively. See also Fungi.

Teliospores of plant parasitic smut fungi form in a fruiting structure called a sorus. Sori are commonly produced in the inflorescence, leaves, or stems of the host, although the root is the site of sorus formation in smuts belonging to the genus Entorrhiza. Teliospores develop within the sorus by conversion of dikaryotic mycelial cells into thick-walled resistant spores within which paired nuclei fuse. Meiosis also occurs in teliospores of some smut fungi, but meiotic division is more characteristic of the tubular basidium that develops at germination.

There are 1200 species and 50 different genera of known smut fungi that infect over 4000 species of angiosperms. Smut fungi occur on both monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous hosts but are most economically important as pathogens of barley, corn, oats, onions, rice, sorghum, sugarcane, and wheat. Control of smut diseases varies with species and includes fungicidal seed treatments and use of resistant crop varieties. See also Basidiomycota; Plant pathology.


Group of fungi that attack wheat; includes loose or common smut (Ustilago tritici) and stinking smut or bunt (Tilletia tritici).

Thesaurus: smut
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noun

    Something that is offensive to accepted standards of decency: bawdry, dirt, filth, obscenity, profanity, ribaldry, scatology, vulgarity. Slang raunch. See decent/indecent.

verb

  1. To soil with foreign matter: bestain, discolor, stain. See clean/dirty, marks.
  2. To contaminate the reputation of: befoul, besmear, besmirch, bespatter, blacken, cloud, denigrate, dirty, smear, smudge, soil, spatter, stain, sully, taint, tarnish. Idioms: give a black eye to, slingthrowmud on. See attack/defend, clean/dirty.


Disease of cereals, corn, grasses, onion, and sorghum, caused by many species of fungi (see fungus). Spores accumulate in sootlike masses (sori) that form within blisters in seeds, leaves, stems, flower parts, and bulbs. The sori usually break up into a black powder that is readily dispersed by wind. Many smut fungi enter embryos or seedling plants, develop throughout the plant, and appear externally only as the plants near maturity. Other smuts are localized, infecting actively growing tissues. Control includes growing resistant varieties in noninfested soil, treating seeds with fungicide, using disease-free transplants, and destroying infected plants or plant parts before the spores are released.

For more information on smut, visit Britannica.com.

 
smut, name for an order of parasitic fungi (Ustilaginales) and the various diseases of plants caused by them. Smuts produce sootlike masses of spores on the host. The spore masses may break up into a dustlike powder readily scattered by wind (loose smuts) or remain more or less covered by a smooth membrane (covered or kernel smuts). Certain smuts are edible and are considered a delicacy in some countries. As a disease, smuts lower the vitality of the host plant and often cause deformities. There is no alternation of hosts. Smuts are a most serious threat to cereal grain crops. Among those that cause severe annual losses to crops are corn smut, oat smut, bunt or stinking smut, and loose smut of wheat. Bunt is probably the most serious disease that attacks wheat at the young or seedling stage and spoils the grain. It has the odor of sour herring and is caused by either of two smut fungi. The fungus may be present on the wheat seed or in the soil in which the seed is sown, or it may be blown into a field by the wind. Smuts are classified in the kingdom Fungi, phylum (division) Basidiomycota, order Ustilaginales.


A group of fungal infections of the seedheads of cereals. Infected grain fed to livestock may be poisonous.

  • barley s.Ustilago hordei thought to cause infertility and stillbirths.
  • wheat s.Tilletia tritici thought to cause glomerulonephritis in pigs.
Wikipedia: Smut
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Smut may refer to:

  • Smut (fungus), a group of plant parasitic fungi
  • Smut (comics), an adult British comic title dating back to the 1980s
  • A colloquial term for pornography or obscenity
  • Smut (Dubstep Producers), a team of electronic music (primarily dubstep) producers.
  • Jimmy Means, a former NASCAR driver nicknamed "Smut".



Translations: Smut
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - snavs, svineri, sodplet, lampeos, sjofelhed, sjofel historie, smudslitteratur
v. tr. - tilsmudse, tilsmudse med sod
v. intr. - blive angrebet af brand

Nederlands (Dutch)
obsceniteiten, vuiltje, roet, roet afgeven, vuil worden

Français (French)
n. - suie, fumée, saleté, taches, grivoiserie, (Hort, Agric) charbon
v. tr. - noircir, (Agric) affecter (une plante) par le charbon, libérer (le grain) du charbon, rendre obscène
v. intr. - dire des grivoiseries, dégager de la fumée, se noircir, être affecté par le charbon (une plante)

Deutsch (German)
n. - Rußflocke, Rußfleck, Brand, Schund
v. - beschmutzen

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - καπνιά, μουντζούρα, δαυλίτης, ερυσίβη, (καθομ.) άσεμνα περιοδικά, ρυπαρογραφήματα
v. - μουντζουρώνω, αμαυρώνω

Italiano (Italian)
fuliggine, macchia, oscenità, annerire

Português (Portuguese)
n. - farrusca (f), ferrugem (f), fuligem (f), conversas obscenas
v. - manchar, sujar

Русский (Russian)
частица угольной пыли, сажа, грязное, черное пятно, непристойность, головня (болезнь растений), пачкать, чернить, коптить

Español (Spanish)
n. - hollín, carbonilla, chistes verdes, obscenidades, (agr.) roya negra
v. tr. - tiznar, ensuciar, manchar, atizonar, añublar
v. intr. - añublarse, atizonarse

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - sotflaga, sotkorn, sotfläck, smuts, oanständighet, oanständigt språk, smutslitteratur
v. - sota ner, smutsa, angripas av rost (säd), smitta med rost (säd)

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
淫词秽语, 黑穗病, 淫秽作品, 污点, 弄黑, 使害上黑穗病, 弄脏, 害上黑穗病

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 淫詞穢語, 黑穗病, 淫穢作品, 污點
v. tr. - 弄黑, 使害上黑穗病
v. intr. - 弄髒, 害上黑穗病

한국어 (Korean)
n. - (연기 따위의) 한 조각, 음담
v. tr. - (그을음 따위로) 더럽히다, 흑수병에 걸리게 하다
v. intr. - 꺼메 지다, 흑수병에 걸리다

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - すす, よごれ, みだらな言葉
v. - すすでよごす, 黒穂病にかからせる, よごれる, 黒穂ができる

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) كلام بذيء, سخام, ألسناج "داء من أمراض ألنبات يصيب ألحنطه " (فعل) يلطخ, يتلوث بالسخام, يصاب بمض ألسناج‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮ניבול-פה, גרגיר פיח, כתם, רבב, שידפון‬
v. tr. - ‮פייח, הכתים, לכלך, ניגע בשידפון‬
v. intr. - ‮התפייח, התלכלך, נוגע בשידפון (צמח)‬


 
 
Learn More
smoterlich
barley smut (plant pathology)
Ustilaginales (mycology)

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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