Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A rag.
  • noun An old or ragged garment.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Yinglish A rag.
  • noun Yinglish An old article of clothing.
  • noun An item of clothing: a "rag" in fashion- and clothing-industry slang

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Yiddish shmate, from Polish szmata.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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

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Examples

  • And if you're unfortunate enough not to have come across the term schmatte before, it's a Yiddish word meaning "a rag," or alternatively something of generally poor quality.

    ClickZ News Blog 2009

  • And if you're unfortunate enough not to have come across the term schmatte before, it's a Yiddish word meaning "a rag," or alternatively something of generally poor quality.

    ClickZ News Blog 2009

  • And if you're unfortunate enough not to have come across the term schmatte before, it's a Yiddish word meaning "a rag," or alternatively something of generally poor quality.

    ClickZ News Blog 2009

  • And if you're unfortunate enough not to have come across the term schmatte before, it's a Yiddish word meaning "a rag," or alternatively something of generally poor quality.

    ClickZ News 2009

  • And if you're unfortunate enough not to have come across the term schmatte before, it's a Yiddish word meaning "a rag," or alternatively something of generally poor quality.

    ClickZ News Blog 2009

  • And if you're unfortunate enough not to have come across the term schmatte before, it's a Yiddish word meaning "a rag," or alternatively something of generally poor quality.

    ClickZ News Blog 2009

  • And if you're unfortunate enough not to have come across the term schmatte before, it's a Yiddish word meaning "a rag," or alternatively something of generally poor quality.

    ClickZ News Blog 2009

  • Evil genius wannabes, take note - here are some tips to get you on the road to properly torturing dressing pregnant women seeking some vaguely decent new schmatte.

    Archive 2008-02-01 kittenpie 2008

  • Evil genius wannabes, take note - here are some tips to get you on the road to properly torturing dressing pregnant women seeking some vaguely decent new schmatte.

    Evil Designer Genius 101 kittenpie 2008

  • Traditionally, if you are a schmatte dealer, and Saks gives you an order, you give that order to a factory, who will give you a certain number of percentage points to the dollar, and pay you immediately.

    What Women Want Paco Underhill 2010

Comments

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  • a worn out rag (of clothing).

    February 3, 2007

  • (See schmatta and schmata for other comments.)

    October 4, 2008