1) A dialect word for a hole at the base of a wall or hedge. It allowed animals to pass from one enclosure to another, from hares to sheep, and differed from a ‘gap’ which was a much larger opening, either purpose made or the result of neglect, one that people and carts might pass through.
1572 warning to all them that hath any smoughte or gaps in Long Newton … that they be made … before Sunday next, Doncaster
1642 soe may the Shepheard have an eye to them all, both to stoppe the smouts and to see that none of them bee … hanged in bryers, Elmswell. The same word was used for small holes that gave bees access to a hive: 1642 sette downe the hive on the sieve, leaving an open smoute for them to goe in, Elmswell. See AW58.