Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Excessively sentimental art or music.
  • noun Maudlin sentimentality.
  • noun Liquid fat, especially chicken fat.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable Liquid chickenfat.
  • noun uncountable Excessively sentimental art or music.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (Yiddish) excessive sentimentality in art or music

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Yiddish shmalts, animal fat, sentimentality, from Middle High German smalz, animal fat, from Old High German; see mel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Yiddish שמאַלץ (shmalts) or German Schmalz.

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Examples

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  • Literally means melted chicken fat.

    April 6, 2009