smile n.1
(orig. US) a drink, usu. of whisky, esp. in phr. take a smile.
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Spirit of the Times (NY) 24 Aug. 294/3: We all agreed to take another ‘smile’ [DA]. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | ‘Epistle from Joe Muggins’s Dog’ in Era (London) 16 July 3/2: [W]e dropt into Jones’s, opposite the Admirality, as the Yankees say, to ‘take a private smile’ at the bar. | |
| Poem before the Iadma of Harvard College in (1856) 7: Hast ta’en a ‘smile’ at Brigham’s. | |
 | Border Sentinel (Mound City, KS) 12 Jan. 3/1: Took another smile of lightning and went home. | |
| ‘English Sl.’ in Eve. Telegram (NY) 9 Dec. 1/5: Let us present a few specimens:– [...] ‘Let’s take a smile.’. | |
| Western Avernus (1924) 109: ‘Come, step up, boys, what’s your liquor?’ ‘Take a smile.’. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Dead Bird (Sydney) 12 July 5/4: Boss’s Barometer [...] A.M. 9 o’clock A Morning Smile. | |
| Mirror of Life 20 Jan. 7/4: A bitter smile — Whisky and bitters. | |
| Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 22: smile [...] 2. n. A drink. | |
| Independent (Honolulu) 3 Oct. 1/2: Take a smile [...] ‘Take a little wine for they stomach sake’. | |
| Hebrew Yarns and Dialect Humor 81/1: The slang of our day is a puzzle, / Invented by — ah, who can tell? / A drink is a ‘smile,’ or a ‘guzzle,’ / A swindler is merely a ‘sell.’. | |
| Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 23 Jan. 4/2: If he serves a ‘smile’ on Sunday, the vigilant and outraged bearer of the blue livery of the law swiftly sumonses the publican for this peccadillo. | |
| Wash. Bee (DC) 20 May 4/6: He asked me to take another ‘smile’ and a straight ten-cent cigar. | |
| ‘“Drunk” Again’ in AS IV:6 441: Once I received an invitation to take a drink by means of the rather euphemistic question, ‘What about a little smile?’. | |
| True Drunkard’s Delight 228: You may have a [...] smile, or fancy smile. | |
| ‘’Twixt Night ’n’ Dawn’ in Afro-American (Baltimore, MD) 3 Dec. 11/5: That quiet, comfy homelike atmosphere in which to enjoy a ‘light smile’. | |
| US West 302: It is no task for the imagining [...] to pass the hospitable doors of Barry and Patten’s in Montgomery Street for a ‘smile’ at the invitation of the Emperor Norton [DA]. |
In phrases
to take a glass of whisky, or any other drink.
| Comic Guide to Isle of Man 98: ‘Who can’t do a smile?’ asked a grinning tourist, producing a pocket-flask. | |
| Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era 111/2: Do a smile (Amer., 1860 on). To take a drink. Now rarely heard. |
an invitation to drink.
| Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant. | |
| Morn. Post (London) 18 Feb. 2/3: American invitations to drink [...] ‘Will you try a smile?’. | |
| Autumn in the Oak Woods 152: ‘Will you try a smile, dad?’ he said, slapping the violinist’s fat back. ‘Vivace adagio, eh? Ha-ha! Come on, drink to the sailors’ health.’. |