schmooze, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

schmooze v.

also schmoos, schmooz, schmooze up, schmuss, shmoos, shmooz, shmooze, smooze

[Heb. schmuos, rumours, idle talk, lit. ‘things heard’]

1. to chatter inconsequentially.

1884		Amer. Hebrew 12 Dec. 69/2: Mrs. Asher [...] did up her house-work; stood out in the hall gossiping with neighbors; came in to do some mending; went out for another dose of schmussing; sat down to a bite for lunch; got up for more gossip.
1897		N.Y. Times Weekly Mag. 14 Nov. 4/1: He loves dearly to stop and chat (Schmoos, he calls it) .
1929		W. Winchell On Broadway 7 Oct. [synd. col.] If he pauses at every table to schmoose, he is morris Guest .
1939		A. Kober Pardon Me for Pointing 214: Sit around shmoosing about this.
1948		N.Y. Herald Trib. 28 Feb. 11/6: It will last for two hours while the drinker ‘schmoozes and nashes’ down $1 worth of ham free.
1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 25: Nothing much to say [...] Just schmoozing around.
1974		J. Lahr Hot to Trot 118: Just thought you might like to schmooze for awhile. Like one of those college bull sessions.
1981		G.V. Higgins Rat on Fire (1982) 123: Jewish widow ladies go and sit out by the swimming pool on nice days like this and schmoos a little.
1985		J. Wambaugh Secrets of Harry Bright (1986) 152: Let’s go to the bar and shmooz.
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 24: Schmooz: Talk, interact.
2003		J. Ellroy ‘Stephanie’ in Destination: Morgue! (2004) 75: They schmoozed up X-Man. His credibility held.
2007		S. Maloney Sucked In 57: Introduced at the pre-dinner booze-and-schmooze, we’d let our eyes do the talking.
2018		‘Aidan Truhen’ Price You Pay 60: Lounges, what the fuck lounges? Is for schmooze.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 51: Billy Eckstine dropped by to schmooze.

2. to flatter, to butter up.

1899		A. Binstead Houndsditch Day by Day 53: Mudder [...] come off! You don’d schmooze old Penrimo vit’ dot shtuss.
1939		W. Winchell ‘On Broadway’ 23 Jan. [synd. col.] ‘Disbarred’ is additional ‘mouthpiece’ schmoozing.
1959		B. Kops Hamlet of Stepney Green II ii: No more smoozing me – something has got to happen soon.
1978		H.R. Haldeman Ends of Power 74: I didn’t require a lot of ‘oiling’—and [Nixon] wasn’t good at ‘oiling’; or what LBJ called ‘schmoozing’.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 41: I may have looked like a piece of shit Guy’d brought back from the pub (on the sole of his shoe) but a little media talk and Manhattan networking soon schmoozed her into shape.
1995		C. Hiaasen Stormy Weather 73: He’d be able to shmooze his way to freedom.
1997		Asbury Park Press (NJ) Section D 9 Mar. 58/3: If you have two people who are both competent [...] but one is really good at schmoozing...the one likely to get the raise is the schmoozer.
1999		Observer Rev. 27 June 5: ‘Jeff,’ he schmoozes, ‘I think of you as an enormous star’.
2000		Guardian Mag. 13 May 29: He attended sales conferences, schmoozed the press, golfed with the corporate bigwigs.
2013		Mail & Guardian (SA) 12 July 🌐 In the good old days [...] you were schmoozed, treated like royalty, with a public relations flunky at your beck and call.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 40: I schmoozed a bent plastic surgeon.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 308: He had that salesmen amiability-veneer. Slick professional schmoozing.

3. to pretend, to pose.

1899		A. Binstead Houndsditch Day by Day 125: ‘Good ev’nin,’ I says, shmoosin’ I knew ’im.
2006		C. Carr Our Town 286: Hard as it was for me to feel comfortable schmoozing with Kluxers, curiosity got the better of me.

4. to act in a romantic, seductive manner.

1967		I. Rosenthal Sheeper 5: I was able to schmoose briefly with a fruit peddler.
1996		H. Roth From Bondage 45: Schmooze and smooch and smooch and schmooze.
2000		W. Shaw Westsiders 97: Not that he is exactly a latter-day Barry White, schmoozing romantically to the sound of violins.

5. to gossip about.

2001

(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 130: They schmoozed the hit. Carlos brought it up. Carlos schmoozed new details.

In derivatives

schmoozability (n.)

the ability to ingratiate oneself through (concocted) intimacy, flattery.

2024

NYRB 15 Aug. 🌐 [Hillary] Clinton had ‘likability issues,’ suffered a ‘trust deficit,’ lacked schmoozability with reporters.

schmoozer (n.) (also schmooser, schmuser)

a liar, a bullshitter n.; a flatterer.

1899		A. Binstead Houndsditch Day by Day 49: Dey’re ‘pest vhen shmoked shtuck at an angle o’ 45 in the lower jaw’ — the shmoozer!
1907		Topeka State Jrnl (KS) 4 May 4/4: Mr Mckenna explained that ‘schmoozer’ meant ‘smooth talker’.
1914		M. Glass Abe and Mawruss 2: ‘A philantropist ain’t a schmooser, Mawruss.’ ‘I know he ain’t, Abe; but just the same Max Linkheimer is a feller which he got a whole lot too much to say for himself.’.
1931		G. Berg Rise of the Goldbergs 138: I’m nothing but a schmuser* – a bit mout he said –right in front of my face. *Big mouth; flatterer.
1980		Barltrop & Wolveridge Muvver Tongue 89: East Enders speak of ‘schmoozers’. A schmoozer’s stock-in-trade is blarney.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 329: Cassandra was a small-time schmoozer.
2000		Guardian Rev. 21 Apr. 14: Between schmoozers and losers.
2017		Guardian 7 Oct. 🌐 In the first ever episode of The Apprentice [Sugar] spelled out his bugbears: liars, cheats, bullshitters and schmoozers.

schmoozefest (n.) [-fest sfx]

any gathering devoted to mutual (if momentary and insincere) congratulation.

2000		Guardian 7 Jul. 🌐 Britain’s premier field-based schmoozefest, Glastonbury, had bar football backstage to amuse the VIPs, PR poseurs and random liggers.
2019		V.D. Hanson Case for Trump 356: [T]he 104-year-old White House Correspondents’ Dinner [. . . .] had long ago degenerated into a celebrity schmooze fest.

schmoozy (adj.)

one who enjoys schmoozing.

2012

G. Flynn Gone Girl 191: Rand’s schmoozy nature had turned manic: He got desperately chummy with everyone he met.