SMEW (probably a variant of smee, smeath, perhaps from MDutch smeente, Dutch smient, widgeon). A small merganser {Merganser albellus), which abounds from Lapland to Kamtchatka, but not east of Bering Straits, and visits Europe in winter. It is a very handsome bird, the plumage of the male being chiefly white, marked with black and gray, and on the head with green.