shmatte

English

Alternative forms

• schmatte, schmata, schmatta, schmate, schmutter, shmatta

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃmɑtə/

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^[1]:

     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

a rag

• Russian: тря́пка (ru) f (trjápka)
• Yiddish: שמאַטע f (shmate)

any item of clothing

• Russian: шмо́тка (ru) f (šmótka)