smart money noun5 •Experienced, well-informed investors, gamblers, etc. considered as a group. •The money invested or bet by such people; by extension, the opinions of such people.The smart money is on a half percent cut in the basic bank lending rates before the end of the week. •Vindictive or exemplary damages; damages beyond a full compensation for the actual injury done.September 30 1893, Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 6th Marquess of Londonderry, "Empolyers' Liability Bill", quoted in The Parliamentary Debates it made was paid by employers to workmen employers liable for injuries resulting as smart money •Money paid by a person to buy himself off from some unpleasant engagement or some painful situation. •(historical) Money allowed to soldiers or sailors, in the English service, for wounds and injuries received; also, a sum paid by a recruit, previous to being sworn in, to procure his release from service.The reader may remember that Mr Allworthy gave Tom Jones a little horse, as a kind of smart-money for the punishment which he imagined he had suffered innocently. — 1749
