smother
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: ball-games
boxing
cooking
food
games
government
hobbies
lifestyle
martial-arts
military
politics
soccer
sports
war
Etymology: From Middle English smothren, smortheren, alteration (due to smother, smorther (“a suffocating vapour, dense smoke”, noun)) of Middle English smoren (“to smother”), from Old English smorian (“to smother, suffocate, choke”), from Proto-Germanic *smurōną (“to suffocate, strangle”), probably related to *smallijan (“to burn”) or Old English smoca (“smoke”).
Cognate with Middle Low German smoren, smurten (“to choke, suffocate”), West Flemish smoren (“to smoke, reek”), Dutch smoren (“to suffocate, smother", also "to stew, simmer”), German schmoren (“to stew, simmer, braise”).
Inflected forms:
form: smothers
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: smothering
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: smothered
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: smothered
pos: verb
tags: past
form: smoother
pos: verb
tags: alternative
form: smothers
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: smoother
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: He smothered her by pressing his hand over her mouth.
But I am Pestilence;—hither and thither
I flit about, that I may slay and smother;—
All lips which I have kissed must surely wither,
But Death’s—if thou art he, we’ll go to work together!
[…] he dashes to his destination at such a speed that when he stops the horse half smothers him in a cloud of steam.
"Unbear him half a moment to freshen him up, and I'll be back."
The awfulest thing was the silence; there wasn't a sound but the screaking of the saddles, the measured tramplings, and the sneezing of the horses, afflicted by the smothering dust-clouds which they kicked up.
gloss: To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to smother a fire with ashes
gloss: To reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The committee's report was smothered.
gloss: To cook in a close dish.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: beefsteak smothered with onions
gloss: To daub or smear.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: And I keep quite a lot of it around, especially chocolate-covered almonds and Trader Joes minipretzels smothered in dark chocolate.
gloss: To be suffocated.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: She is smothered by the rope.
gloss: To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
intransitive
gloss: To get in the way of a kick of the ball.
pos: verb
examples: Emmanuel Adebayor's touch proved a fraction heavy as he guided Van der Vaart's exquisite long ball round John Ruddy, before the goalkeeper did well to smother Bale's shot from Modric's weighted pass.
gloss: To get in the way of a kick of the ball, preventing it going very far. When a player is kicking the ball, an opponent who is close enough will reach out with his hands and arms to get over the top of it, so the ball hits his hands after leaving the kicker's boot, dribbling away.
pos: verb
gloss: To prevent the development of an opponent's attack by one's arm positioning.
pos: verb
gloss: That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
gloss: That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Thus must I from the smoke into the smother […]
gloss: That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
pos: noun
tags: countable
dated
uncountable
examples: not to keep their suspicions in smother
gloss: That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
pos: noun
tags: countable
dated
uncountable
examples: Thus must I from the smoke into the smother, / From tyrant duke unto tyrant brother.
Then we passed the Grand Opéra, at which our fine taste revolted; the Rue de la Paix, all in a smother with the dust caused by its improvement, at which our eyes naturally distilled water; […]
gloss: That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
Related words: smotheriness
Derived words: smotherable
smotheration
smothercate
smother crop
smotherer
smother-fly
smotheringly
smother mate
smothery
unsmother
unsmothered
Translations: