Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Preserved by exposure to smoke: Describes food, especially meat or fish, that has been dried, flavored, and preserved by hanging in the smoke from burning wood.
   • Having a smoky color or appearance: Can describe something that has a grayish or hazy color reminiscent of smoke.

Usage

• The adjective smoked is used attributively (before a noun) or predicatively (after a linking verb like 'is' or 'tastes').
• It primarily describes food products that have undergone a smoking preservation process.
• It can also describe non-food items that have a color or appearance similar to smoke.

Examples

• Attributive use (before a noun):
  • We bought some smoked salmon for the appetizer.
  • He prefers smoked turkey to roasted turkey.
• Predicative use (after a linking verb):
  • This ham is smoked over hickory wood.
  • The cheese tasted intensely smoked.

Advanced Usage

• "to be smoked": This passive construction emphasizes the process applied to the food.
  • The fish was smoked for twelve hours.
• Used in compound adjectives to specify the type of smoke or method:
  • cold-smoked salmon, applewood-smoked bacon

Variants and Related Words

• Smoke (verb): The action of curing or flavoring food with smoke.
  • They smoke the meat in a traditional shed.
• Smoking (noun/gerund): The process of preserving food with smoke.
  • The smoking of meats is an ancient practice.
• Smoky (adjective): Having the taste, smell, or appearance of smoke. (Note: "Smoky" is more general and can describe air, flavor, or color, not just preserved food).
  • The room had a smoky atmosphere.

Synonyms

• Cured: Treated to preserve it, often by smoking, salting, or drying.
• Kippered: Specifically refers to herring or salmon that has been split, salted, and smoked.

Related Phrases

• Smoked out: This is a phrasal verb for the verb 'smoke' and is not directly related to the adjective 'smoked'. It means to force someone or something out of a place by filling it with smoke.
  • The police smoked out the fugitive.

Related Idioms

• There's no smoke without fire: This idiom uses the noun 'smoke' and means rumors usually have some basis in truth. It is not directly related to the adjective 'smoked'.

Adjective

1. (used especially of meats and fish) dried and cured by hanging in wood smoke