smile-smirk
English
Etymology
smile + smirk, coined by James Joyce
Verb
smile-smirk (third-person singular simple present smile-smirks, present participle smile-smirking, simple past and past participle smile-smirked)
- To smile while smirking
- 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:
- She smilesmirked supercilious (wept! aren't men?), but, lightward gliding, mild she smiled on Boylan.
- 2013, Jeffrey Miller, The Structures of Law and Literature:
- Having inarticulately “rung the bell,” Douce “smilesmirks,” but nothing comes from her lips until the show is over and she teases Blazes Boylan (flirting with him, not Lenehan) that he is “the essence of vulgarity?' Never mind that her surname is French for “sweet,” she goes sour when Boylan leaves the pub immediately thereafter, for an assignation with Bloom's wife Molly.
- 2014, John Nichols, American Blood:
- He clanged open the register, still smile-smirking—Holy moly, it was really happening, what an adventure, wait'll he told the guys!
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Noun
smile-smirk (plural smile-smirks)
- A smile while smirking
- 2012, Jim Marquez, A Moveable Beast:
- […] and he'd quickly pull out and jettison a storm, turbospewing her back and hair and sheets and face and ears and sly, conniving little smile-smirk.
- 2014, Nicole Williams, The Crash Trilogy:
- Not because it made his scar disappear, but because it eased it for a few moments. His cocky smile-smirk was a close second favorite.
- 2014, Zoe Foster Blake, The Wrong Girl:
- He wiped his own face as an indicator, that same smile-smirk painted on his stupid face.
- 2014, Lisanne Koster, Happily Ever After, Yes Please:
- I'm so not gonna tell him I was giggling because he is in my laps, but honestly, I think he knows. His lips do that smile-smirk thing again and he sits up.
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