Green’s Dictionary of Slang

self-opinionatedly clever, smug, complacent.

1954		(con. 1920s–30s) J.O. Killens Youngblood (1956) 37: Don’t give me none of that what’s-the-matter. You one of these smart ass niggers.
1957		H. Simmons Corner Boy 88: He’d figure he was a smartassed punk that could hold out on me.
1960		A. Seymour One Day of the Year (1977) I i: All this [...] spoutin’ big ideas, going round with smart-arsed little sheilas [...] It’s all wrong, son.
1969		N. Spinrad Bug Jack Barron 17: Vince, you smart-ass wop.
1970		E. Tidyman Shaft 27: The smart-ass young assistant district attorney.
1972		T. O’Brien If I Die in a Combat Zone (1980) 32: ‘Look,’ the squad leader sighed, ’Don’t get smart ass.’.
1974		D. Goines Swamp Man 53: We just oughta cut the smart-arse nigger’s nuts off first!
1977		(con. 1941) R. Beilby Gunner 148: Well, have a look for yourself, ya smart-arsed little sod!
1981		H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 78: There’s enough dirt up here to bury every smart-assed cop in the city.
1987		(con. 1967) Bunch & Cole Reckoning for Kings (1989) 43: Are you being smart ass with me, Specialist Mosby?
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 160: Prising him away from his smart-ass lawyers and well-connected friends.
1990		R.G. Barratt ‘Casey’s Wace’ in What Do You Reckon (1997) [ebook] [S]martarse Barrett, the Butcher of Bondi, jumped in further around.
1994		M. Montague Dread Culture 39: She didn’t have the patience to deal with this smart-ass Jamaican woman.
1994		N. McCall Makes Me Wanna Holler (1995) 325: Mondale’s campaign was being ruined by ‘smart-assed white boys.’.
1998		I. Welsh Filth 186: They’ll have a smart-arsed lawyer [...] doon here straight away.
1999		Hip-Hop Connection Aug. 20: We also grateful for you writing in to point out any omissions, although not in smartarse way, cheers.
2000		Observer Rev. 30 Jan. 12: Barker’s narrator speaks and thinks in smart-arse adolescent italics.
2005		L. Redhead Rubdown [ebook] You come across as smartarse and cynical, like you don’t give a shit.
2006		C. Hiaasen Nature Girl 72: Some smart-ass kid brings in the video.
2012		K. Shea ‘Pride’ in C. Rhatigan and N. Bird (eds) Pulp Ink 2 [ebook] Of course, I’m just some smartass punk from the suburbs.
2013		K. Sampson Killing Pool 12: I’m about to give him a smart-arse answer.
2016		V. McDermid Out of Bounds (2017) 279: ‘You and your smart-arsed [pals pretended that Jason was your friend’.
2016		D. Whish-Wilson Old Scores [ebook] The Conlan brothers were either local boys done good, [...] or smart-arse shonks, playing fast and loose with other people’s money.
2019		S.M. Jones Lives Laid Away [ebook] ‘[Y]ou’re just a little smart-assed faggot, aren’t you?’.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 271: ‘He’d make some smart-ass comment about the colors’.