Nearby Words
verb (used with object)
1.
to stifle or suffocate, as by smoke or other means of preventing free breathing.
2.
to extinguish or deaden (fire, coals, etc.) by covering so as to exclude air.
3.
to cover closely or thickly; envelop: to smother a steak with mushrooms.
4.
to suppress or repress: to smother feelings.
5.
Cookery. to steam (food) slowly in a heavy, tightly closed vessel with a minimum of liquid: smothered chicken and onions.
verb (used without object)
6.
to become stifled or suffocated; be prevented from breathing.
7.
to be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
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Smothered
is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
| an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance. |
noun
8.
dense, stifling smoke.
9.
a smoking or smoldering state, as of burning matter.
10.
dust, fog, spray, etc., in a dense or enveloping cloud.
11.
an overspreading profusion of anything: a smother of papers.
Origin:
1125–75; (noun) Middle English smorther dense smoke; akin to Old English smorian to suffocate; (v.) Middle English smo(r)theren, derivative of the noun
1125–75; (noun) Middle English smorther dense smoke; akin to Old English smorian to suffocate; (v.) Middle English smo(r)theren, derivative of the noun
Related forms
smoth·er·a·ble, adjective
half-smoth·ered, adjective
un·smoth·er·a·ble, adjective
un·smoth·ered, adjective
un·smoth·er·ing, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source
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Link To Smothered
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
smother
c.1200, "to suffocate with smoke," from smorthre (n.) "dense, suffocating smoke" (c.1175), from stem of O.E. smorian "to suffocate, choke," possibly connected to smolder. Meaning "to kill by suffocation" is from 1548; sense of "to extinguish a fire" is from 1591. Sense of
EXPAND"stifle, repress" is first recorded 1579; meaning "to cover thickly (with some substance)" is from 1598.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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