stinking smut
- noun
- /ˈstɪŋkɪŋ smʌt/
- Specialized
:
carbón hediondo
- The farmer lost much of his crop to stinking smut last year.
Examples
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When stinking smut is present, the entire harvest may be contaminated by its unpleasant odor.
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Careful seed treatment can help prevent stinking smut in wheat fields.
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Don't let stinking smut ruin your harvest!
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What causes stinking smut in wheat?
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Careful seed treatment can help prevent stinking smut in wheat fields.
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The farmer lost much of his crop to stinking smut last year.
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When stinking smut is present, the entire harvest may be contaminated by its unpleasant odor.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A disease of wheat that replaces grains with bad-smelling spores
1
9.4
A plant disease that makes black powder on grain plants like wheat
A fungus that infects wheat and turns grains into black, smelly masses
A fungus that infects wheat and spoils the grain
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is fully compositional: 'stinking' describes the odor property of 'smut' (a fungal disease), so a learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a smut infection that smells foul. Although the term is somewhat technical, there is no idiomatic or metaphorical shift, making the meaning predictable from the constituents.
Etymology
Stinking smut is the name of a wheat disease where the grains are changed into dark, greasy lumps that truly 'stink'. The word smut was used for the black fungus and stinking shows the bad smell, so the phrase means a smelly fungal infection that ruins the grain.