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smother
[ smuhth-er ]
verb (used with object)
- to stifle or suffocate, as by smoke or other means of preventing free breathing.
- to extinguish or deaden (fire, coals, etc.) by covering so as to exclude air.
- to cover closely or thickly; envelop:
to smother a steak with mushrooms.
- to suppress or repress:
to smother feelings.
- Cooking. to steam (food) slowly in a heavy, tightly closed vessel with a minimum of liquid:
smothered chicken and onions.
verb (used without object)
- to become stifled or suffocated; be prevented from breathing.
- to be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
noun
- dense, stifling smoke.
- a smoking or smoldering state, as of burning matter.
- dust, fog, spray, etc., in a dense or enveloping cloud.
- an overspreading profusion of anything:
a smother of papers.
smother
/ ˈsmʌðə /
verb
- to suffocate or stifle by cutting off or being cut off from the air
- tr to surround (with) or envelop (in)
he smothered her with love
- tr to extinguish (a fire) by covering so as to cut it off from the air
- to be or cause to be suppressed or stifled
smother a giggle
- tr to cook or serve (food) thickly covered with sauce, etc
noun
- anything, such as a cloud of smoke, that stifles
- a profusion or turmoil
- archaic.a state of smouldering or a smouldering fire
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Derived Forms
- ˈsmothery, adjective
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Other Words From
- smother·a·ble adjective
- half-smothered adjective
- un·smother·a·ble adjective
- un·smothered adjective
- un·smother·ing adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of smother1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of smother1
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Example Sentences
You just have to find that yin of decency and locate the gestures and words that smother the yang of fear.
Impatiently I smother the accusing whisper of my conscience, "By the right of revolutionary ethics."
I would not make oath it was so, but my blood was then boiling, and I was trying to smother my passion.
Hamilton saw that without speedy relief his comrade must soon smother.
I choked a little over a big scare that seemed to rush up out of the bed-clothes to smother me.
It endeavoured to smother sleepers like the Scandinavian hag Mara, and similarly deprived them of power to move.
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