A fire burned in order to create a dense smoke and drive away insects.
1840. Kindling first some dry leaves, he scraped the moss from a moist stump, and covering up the flame with the damp materials, the thick fumes of his “smudge” soon caused the insects to disappear.—C. F. Hoffman, ‘Greyslaer,’ i. 59–60.
1856. We went ashore and made a ‘smudge,’ to protect ourselves from the mosquitoes.—Knick. Mag., xlviii. 294 (Sept.).
1858. So freshly does he write,… that we, too,… chat amidst the smudge-fires.—Id., li. 110 (Jan.).
1888. Eliza took counsel as to the best mode of extermination, and brought old kettles with raw cotton into our room, from which proceeded such smudges and such odors as would soon have wilted a Northern mosquito; but it only resulted in making us feel like a piece of dried meat hanging in a smoke-house, while the undisturbed insect winged its way about our heads.—Mrs. Custer, ‘Tenting on the Plains,’ pp. 77–8.
1888. A smudge at the end of the wagon was rising about me, to drive away mosquitoes.—Id., p. 124.
