SMYTRIE NOUN a collection of small people, especially children, or of small objects ...1786 Sc. rare ETYMOLOGY of unknown origin; compare Frisian smite (n. a great number of persons, a large amount of money, etc.) FIRST DOCUMENTED USE 1786 - see EXAMPLE below EXAMPLE "...Trowth, Caesar, whiles they're fash't eneugh: A cottar howkin in a sheugh, Wi' dirty stanes biggin a dyke, Baring a quarry, an' sic like; Himsel', a wife, he thus sustains, A smytrie o' wee duddie weans, An' nought but his han'-daurk, to keep Them right an' tight in thack an' rape...." From: Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect In - The Twa Dogs - Robert Burns
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