smock [OE] In Old English smūgan meant ‘to creep’. Just as today we can talk about, say, wriggling into a pair of jeans or slipping into a dress, so the Anglo-Saxons used the word as a way of describing putting on a piece of clothing. This is why the related word smoc, which became smock, was applied to a woman’s loose-fitting undergarment. It was not until the 19th century that the word was used for a piece of clothing worn by agricultural workers decorated with smocking, and only since the 20th that it has described a loose dress or blouse, or the loose garment that artists wear to keep their clothes clean.