The Yellow Wallpaper - What does *Smooch* mean?

Solution 1:

A more fundamental question is, "What did smooch mean at the time of this writing?" The Yellow Wallpaper, which is indeed a complex and brilliant piece by any measure, was published in 1892. The word smooch, which now means "to kiss and cuddle" had a different meaning in the 19th century.

According to The Century dictionary and cyclopedia (1897), it's the same as "smutch":

smutch: a black spot; a black stain; a smudge.

From A Dictionary of the English Language: Designed for Use in Common Schools Abridged from Webster's International Dictionary (Noah Webster, 1892):

Smutch (amuch), v. t. [SMUTCHED (amficht); SMUTCHING.] To smudge ; to blacken with smoke or soot. — n. Stain ; dirty spot. [Written also smooch.]

And The Proceedings and Transactions of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science, (Session of 1894-1895, Volume IX) describes the common range of usage of smooch:

Smoochin, hair-oil, or pomade. A young man from abroad, com mencing as clerk in an establishment at one of the outposts, was puzzled by an order for a “pen'orth of smoochin.” The verb smooch is also used as equivalent to smutch, to blacken or defile. We may hear such expressions as, “ His clothes are smooched with soot,” or “ The paper is smooched with ink.” But it is also used to express the application of any substance as by smearing, without any reference to blackening. Thus one might say, “ Her hair was all smooched with oil.”

So within this 1892 short story, one can understand smooch as meaning a "smudge" with connotations of something defiled, stained or dirty.