schmear

noun

ˈshmir 

variants or schmeer

plural schmears or schmeers

1

informal : a group of related things

One false move and the whole schmear [=the entire thing, everything] will come crashing to the floor.

—Jeffrey L. Seglin

2

informal : a layer of a spreadable food or condiment

He eats one virtually every day, 'round noon or 1 p.m., topped with the faintest schmear of peanut butter.

—Mary Bilyeu

especially : a layer of cream cheese

… the reverential tones that the Milanese reserve for a perfect risotto, or New Yorkers for a classic bagel with a schmear.

—Jack Knox

While visiting New York a few years ago, Dan Winters popped into a bodega and ordered a plain with a schmear. The clerk just stared at him, and Winters, who spent four years in the city starting in the late 1980s, realized the guy had no idea what he was saying. Times had changed, even for breakfast. "No one said, 'Let me get a bagel with cream cheese,'" Winters says. "It was 'plain with a schmear.'"

—Laura Mallonee

Examples of schmear in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The point is to rip the bagels, reveal their hot, fluffy interior, and dip them into the schmear. —Kaley Fedko, CBS News, 6 Feb. 2026

Gables' new outpost brings the business' assortment of schmears, sandwiches and deli fare to Zionsville seven days per week. —Bradley Hohulin, IndyStar, 2 Feb. 2026

They are sold whole and meant to be ripped and dipped into schmears. —Olivia Wakim, AJC.com, 24 Jan. 2026

Rather than offering traditional bagels cut in half with cream cheese in the middle, PopUp encourages customers to grip the bagel, rip off a piece and dip it in a cup of schmear. —Noah Lyons, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Nov. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Yiddish shmir smear

First Known Use

1909, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for schmear

• beer
• bier
• cheer
• clear
• dear
• deer
• drear
• ear
• fear
• fier
• gear
• hear