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smurf

(smûrf)

v. smurfed, smurf·ing, smurfs

v.tr.

To disable (a computer network) with a smurf attack.

v.intr.

1. To engage in a smurf attack.

2. Slang To buy as much pseudoephedrine as is legally permitted in each of numerous stores over a wide area in order to obtain enough to produce methamphetamine.

[Sense 1, after the smurf exploit program used to make smurf attacks in the late 1990s. Both senses ultimately after the Smurfs, a race of very small blue gnomelike creatures in comic strips by Belgian comic strip artist Pierre Culliford, later featured in a popular television series.]

smurfer n.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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