Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus.) to ingratiate oneself; thus smoodging, ingratiation.

1895		Truth (Sydney) 12 May 5/7: He ‘smooged’ his way into a hazard-school, and had two or three very respectable wins.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Dec. 29/3: It ain’t a caper of mine, smooging to a Chow for tucker.
1904		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 18 May 6/3: Peter— ‘the gallant ex-champion’ [...] came smooging up and tried to kid the slowly reviving victim .
1905		Worker (Brisbane) 28 Jan. 11/3: What a libel on George Kerr to call him a smoodger. He’s about the last man in the world to smoodge to anyone.
1911		E. Dyson ‘The Picnic’ in Benno and Some of the Push 4: ‘The Rivals’ Yeh got smoogin’ up ter Gopher Eddie at the Blondin, Chewsdee.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 Dec. 13/4: They were always smoodging to the teacher, and believed the yarn about George Washington.
1922		T.E. Spencer ‘Liza’ in Budgeree Ballads 84: There are swells come smoogin’ rahnd yer, what profess they can’t be beat.
1936		(con. 1830s–60s) ‘Miles Franklin’ All That Swagger 328: They smoodge around Roger but they order me like a rouseabout.
1939		K. Tennant Foveaux 49: Don’t smooge to me.
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 161: ‘I’ve been trying to get him down to the doctor these last two weeks, but you know what he is as well as I do.’ [...] ‘I’ll smooge to him after.’.
1959		G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 195: Here he is, large as life, smoodging around Amy.
1968		S. Gore Holy Smoke 56: And it’s no good to come smoodgin’ around the trammie afterwards.
1975		D. Davin Breathing Spaces 10: ‘Smooging won’t get you out of it,’ she said.
1985		Sydney Morn. Herald 7 Dec. 47/7: The Minister of Propaganda, the egregious Dr Goebbels, is ‘smoodging up’ to his girl.
1997		Age (Melbourne) 21 Oct. 32/1: Smoodging is that art form which fegns sincerity.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. as sense 2, cit. 1988.

2. to cuddle (up); thus come the smoodge; smoodging, cuddling.

1826		Glasgow Herald 27 Mar. 4/1: In comes the birkie and the very young lady smoodging and laughing like daft.
1905		Kalgoorlie West. Argus (WA) 16 May 23/2: Mr Draper: Was there anything improper in your behaviour? Witness: No, we yarned and there was a bit of smoodging (Laughter).
1910		Argus (Melbourne) 2 Mar. 11/8: There were three girls on the front seat of the car [...] The driver was ‘talking or smoodging’ with them.
1912		Bulletin (Sydney) 12 Dec. 27/3: Met my wife on a Bondi tram – smoodged up a bit. Took her for a walk amongst the smell of dead shark on the beach – saw her home – put it to her then and there.
1923		Horsham Times 23 Feb. 10/2: ‘What does smoodging mean?’ [...] ‘It means cuddling’.
1937		West. Mail (Perth) 27 May 43/2: No more for me — I quits the field, and leaves that smoodging past.
1942		G. Casey It’s Harder for Girls 9: A rug was reckoned to provide privacy enough for a bit of smoodging.
1943		Baker ‘Influence of American Sl. on Australia’ in AS XVIII:4 255: He learned shickered for drunk, smoodging for making love.
1950		(con. 1936–46) K.S. Prichard Winged Seeds (1984) 79: He had [...] smoodged with a girl in some dark corner.
1951		D. Stivens Jimmy Brockett 293: I told her that I loved her. I could see she wanted a bit of smooging.
1955		D. Niland Shiralee 122: If there was no blokes about, he’d come the smoodge to the women for a bit of a love-up.
1986		G.A. Wilkes Exploring Aus. Eng. 7: In 1942, when there was an influx of American servicemen into Australia, the US War and Navy Departments issued a Pocket Guide to Australia which listed common expressions which might be encountered. The Guide explained that [...] to smooge was to pitch woo.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 105/1: smooze local variant of Australian ‘smoodge’, to kiss and cuddle, or ingratiate oneself, from Yiddish ‘schmooze’ and/or Southern English ‘smudge’, both to caress, dialect word ‘smouch’.

3. (Aus.) in ext. of sense 1, to deceive, to trick.

1907

E. Dyson ‘Two Battlers and a Bear’ in Lone Hand (Sydney) Sept. 488/1: ‘Bluffin’ [...] me that knows yeh fer er moral wild cat, er smoogin’ deception, ’n’ er lyin’ malingerer’.