smother

[ smuhth-er ]
See synonyms for: smothersmotheredsmothering on Thesaurus.com

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.

  1. to cover closely or thickly; envelop: to smother a steak with mushrooms.

  2. to suppress or repress: to smother feelings.

  3. Cooking. to steam (food) slowly in a heavy, tightly closed vessel with a minimum of liquid: smothered chicken and onions.

verb (used without object)
  1. to become stifled or suffocated; be prevented from breathing.

  2. to be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.

noun
  1. dense, stifling smoke.

  2. a smoking or smoldering state, as of burning matter.

  1. dust, fog, spray, etc., in a dense or enveloping cloud.

  2. an overspreading profusion of anything: a smother of papers.

Origin of smother

1
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

Other words from smother

  • smoth·er·a·ble, adjective
  • half-smothered, adjective
  • un·smoth·er·a·ble, adjective
  • un·smoth·ered, adjective
  • un·smoth·er·ing, adjective

Words Nearby smother

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use smother in a sentence

  • It endeavoured to smother sleepers like the Scandinavian hag Mara, and similarly deprived them of power to move.

    Myths of Babylonia and Assyria | Donald A. Mackenzie

British Dictionary definitions for smother

smother

/ (ˈsmʌðə) /


verb
  1. to suffocate or stifle by cutting off or being cut off from the air

  2. (tr) to surround (with) or envelop (in): he smothered her with love

  1. (tr) to extinguish (a fire) by covering so as to cut it off from the air

  2. to be or cause to be suppressed or stifled: smother a giggle

  3. (tr) to cook or serve (food) thickly covered with sauce, etc

noun
  1. anything, such as a cloud of smoke, that stifles

  2. a profusion or turmoil

  1. archaic a state of smouldering or a smouldering fire

Origin of smother

1
Old English smorian to suffocate; related to Middle Low German smōren

Derived forms of smother

  • smothery, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012