See Also: Smith, Bessie(dictionary)
Smith, Bessie(encyclopedia)
Bessie (as used in expressions)(encyclopedia)
Head, Bessie(encyclopedia)
smith(2)(dictionary)
Smith, Ian(dictionary)
smith(1)(dictionary)
W H Smith(finance)
smith(dictionary)
Smith, Red(encyclopedia)

ill 2, adverb (oh) and Smith, Bessie (sh)


ill 2, adverb (oh)



2 adv
sb can ill afford (to do) sth
to be unable to do or have something without making the situation you are in very difficult
::I was losing weight which I could ill afford to lose.
::Most gamblers can ill afford their habit.
think/speak ill of sb
formal to think or say unpleasant things about someone
::She really believes you should never speak ill of the dead.
bode ill
formal to give you a reason to think that something bad will happen
::The look on his face boded ill for somebody.

Smith, Bessie (sh)




orig. Elizabeth Smith

born April 15, 1898?, Chattanooga, Tenn., U.S.
died Sept. 26, 1937, Clarksdale, Miss.

U.S. blues and jazz singer.

Smith sang popular songs as well as blues on the minstrel and vaudeville stage. She began recording in 1923 and appeared in the Film St. Louis Blues (1929). Her interpretations represent the fully realized transition of the rural folk tradition of the blues to its urbane structure and expressiveness. A bold, supremely confident artist with a powerful voice and precise diction, she became known as "Empress of the Blues." Smith was the most successful African American entertainer of her time. She died from injuries sustained in a car crash, and it was said that, had she been white, she would have received earlier medical treatment and her life might have been saved; the actual circumstances of her treatment remain obscure.