Green’s Dictionary of Slang

smear-gelt n.

[Yid. smiergelt, a bribe, lit. ‘money for greasing’ (the palm)]

a bribe.

1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1859		Matsell Vocabulum.