Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To suffocate (another).
- intransitive verb To deprive (a fire) of the oxygen necessary for combustion.
- intransitive verb To conceal, suppress, or hide.
- intransitive verb To cover thickly.
- intransitive verb To lavish a surfeit of a given emotion on (someone).
- intransitive verb To suffocate.
- intransitive verb To be extinguished.
- intransitive verb To be concealed or suppressed.
- intransitive verb To be surfeited with an emotion.
- noun Something, such as a dense cloud of smoke or dust, that smothers or tends to smother.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of.
- To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air: as, to
smother a fire with ashes. - Hence, figuratively and generally, to reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish; stifle; cover up; conceal; hide: as, the committee's report was smothered.
- In cookery, to cook in a close dish: as, beefsteak smothered with onions.
- To daub or smear.
- Synonyms Smother, Choke, Strangle, Throttle, Stifle, Suffocate. To smother, in the stricter sense, is to put to death by preventing air from entering the nose or mouth. To choke is to imperil or destroy life by stoppage, external or internal, in the windpipe. To strangle is to put to death by compression of the windpipe. Throttle is the same as
strangle , except that it is often used for partial or attempted strangling, and that it suggests its derivation. Suffocate and stifle are essentially the same, except that stifle is the stronger: they mean to kill by impeding respiration. - To be suffocated.
- To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust. close covering or wrapping, or the like.
- Of a fire, to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder.
- Figuratively, to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
- noun That which smothers or appears to smother, in any sense.
- noun Smoldering; slow combustion.
- noun Confusion; excess with disorder: as, a perfect smother of letters and papers.
- noun The state of being stifled; suppression.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To destroy the life of by suffocation; to deprive of the air necessary for life; to cover up closely so as to prevent breathing; to suffocate.
- transitive verb To affect as by suffocation; to stife; to deprive of air by a thick covering, as of ashes, of smoke, or the like.
- transitive verb Hence, to repress the action of; to cover from public view; to suppress; to conceal.
- intransitive verb To be suffocated or stifled.
- intransitive verb To burn slowly, without sufficient air; to smolder.
- noun Stifling smoke; thick dust.
- noun obsolete A state of suppression.
- noun That which smothers or causes a sensation of smothering, as smoke, fog, the foam of the sea, a confused multitude of things.
- noun (Zoöl.) an aphid.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun That which smothers or appears to smother, in any sense.
- noun The state of being
stifled ;suppression . - noun Australian rules football The act of smothering a kick (see above).
- verb transitive To
suffocate ;stifle ;obstruct , more or less completely, therespiration of. - verb transitive To
extinguish ordeaden , as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding theair : as, to smother a fire with ashes. - verb transitive To
reduce to a low degree ofvigor or activity;suppress ordo away with ;extinguish ;stifle ;cover up ;conceal ;hide : as, the committee's report was smothered. - verb transitive In
cookery : to cook in a close dish: as, beefsteak smothered with onions. - verb transitive To
daub orsmear . - verb intransitive To be
suffocated . - verb intransitive To
breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like. - verb intransitive Of a fire: to
burn very slowly for want of air;smolder . - verb intransitive Figuratively: to
perish , growfeeble , ordecline , bysuppression orconcealment ; bestifled ; be suppressed or concealed. - verb soccer To get in the way of a kick of the ball
- verb Australian rules football 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.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a stifling cloud of smoke
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Aucamp said the decision was in contrast to one taken by the ANC's parliamentary caucus, which had abused its majority to "smother" the allegations against Yengeni in the ethics committee.
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Survey the stock of pea-sticks, haul out all the rubbish from the yard, and make a 'smother' of waste prunings and heaps of twitch and other stuff for which there is no decided use.
The Culture of Vegetables and Flowers From Seeds and Roots 16th Edition Sutton and Sons
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Syrens whooped, steam whistles shrieked hoarsely; the raucous voices of fog-horns proclaimed the whereabouts of scores of craft, passing up and down the river; but the trim-built barge slid noiselessly along, ghost-like, in the dun-colored "smother," giving no intimation of her proximity.
Golden Stories A Selection of the Best Fiction by the Foremost Writers Various
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Here were plenty of smoke, plenty of "smother," and a few flames in the corner, but no one knew what might be the end of the business, and we were all prepared to march on to the breezy Parade should the fire gain too much sway over the premises.
The Idler Magazine, Volume III, April 1893 An Illustrated Monthly Various
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From that time, she worked with all her might to "smother" her rival, enlisting the services of influential friends to persuade the managers not to give Christine an opportunity for a fresh triumph.
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Amy, I know I am blessed to have a mother in my life, but I don't want a "smother," I want a mother!
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Amy, I know I am blessed to have a mother in my life, but I don't want a "smother," I want a mother!
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However, friends say the pop star is determined not to "smother" Mercy with attention.
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Well? "rejoined Byng, quietly, yet with a kind of smother in the tone.
The Judgment House Gilbert Parker 1897
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Well? "rejoined Byng, quietly, yet with a kind of smother in the tone.
The Project Gutenberg Complete Works of Gilbert Parker Gilbert Parker 1897
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