Why do we say smart alec

Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors. Translations of smart alec in Chinese Traditional. See more. Need a translator? Translator tool. What is the pronunciation of smart alec?

Browse smarmily. Smart Board. Test your vocabulary with our fun image quizzes. Image credits. Word of the Day have a heart of gold. Blog Outsets and onsets! Read More. November 08, To top. English Examples Translations. The victims then would hastily grab their clothes and escape through the window.

The police soon discovered Hoag was cheating them out of their share by this new tactic and arrested Hoag and Melinda. Hoag promptly escaped from prison, with the help of his brother, but was eventually recaptured.

This term, as an expression, then took about 20 years to germinate and eventually found its way into print in , and popular culture shortly thereafter. BY Daven Hiskey. During the first week, not a day passed without smart skirmishes. Then summoning a smart young jemadar with whom he had talked a good deal during the journey, he asked him to read the chit. Who could have believed that only a fortnight ago these same figures were clean as new pins; smart and well-liking!

Christopher Smart, an English poet and miscellaneous writer, died; known by a popular translation of Horace. An impudent or obnoxiously self-assertive individual, a wise guy, as in New teachers often have a hard time coping with the smart alecks in their classes. This expression, dating from the mids, probably alluded to a person of this description who was named Alec or Alexander, but his identity has been lost.

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