smatter Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb work with in an amateurish manner
    dabble; play around.
    • She dabbles in astronomy
    • He plays around with investments but he never makes any money
  2. verb to talk foolishly
    babble; blather; blether; blither.
    • The two women babbled and crooned at the baby
  3. verb speak with spotty or superficial knowledge
    • She smatters Russian

WordNet

Smat"ter intransitive verb
Etymology
OE. smateren to make a noise; cf. Sw. smattra to clatter, to crackle, G. schmettern to dash, crash, to warble, quaver.
Definitions
  1. To talk superficially or ignorantly; to babble; to chatter.
    Of state affairs you can not smatter. Swift.
  2. To have a slight taste, or a slight, superficial knowledge, of anything; to smack.
Smat"ter transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To talk superficially about.
  2. To gain a slight taste of; to acquire a slight, superficial knowledge of; to smack. Chaucer.
Smat"ter noun
Definitions
  1. Superficial knowledge; a smattering.

Webster 1913