smother
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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
smother¹
- /ˈsməðər/ US
- /ˈsmʌðɚ/ US
- /ˈsmʌðə/ UK
- /ˈsmʊðə/ Northern England
- /ˈsmʊðəɹ/ Ireland
- /ˈsmʌðəɹ/ Northern Ireland, Scotland
Rhymes with -ʌðə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
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-West Germanic *smorōn, 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”).
verb smothers · smothering · smothered · smoother
- To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone. He smothered her by pressing his hand over her mouth.
- To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air. to smother a fire with ashes
- To reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish The committee's report was smothered.
- To cook in a close dish. beefsteak smothered with onions
- To daub or smear. And I keep quite a lot of it around, especially chocolate-covered almonds and Trader Joes minipretzels smothered in dark chocolate.
- To be suffocated. She is smothered by the rope.
- To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like.
- to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder.
- to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
- To get in the way of a kick of the ball. 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.
- 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.
- To prevent the development of an opponent's attack by one's arm positioning.
smother²
- /ˈsməðər/ US
- /ˈsmʌðɚ/ US
- /ˈsmʌðə/ UK
- /ˈsmʊðə/ Northern England
- /ˈsmʊðəɹ/ Ireland
- /ˈsmʌðəɹ/ Northern Ireland, Scotland
Rhymes with -ʌðə(ɹ)
Where it comes from
From Middle English smother, smorther (“a suffocating vapour, dense smoke”), from Old English smorþor (“smoke”, literally “that which suffocates”), from smorian (“to suffocate, choke”) + -þor (instrumental suffix).
noun smothers · smoother
- Smoldering; slow combustion.
- Cookware used in such cooking. Thus must I from the smoke into the smother […]
- The state of being stifled; suppression. not to keep their suspicions in smother
- Stifling smoke; thick dust. Thus must I from the smoke into the smother, / From tyrant duke unto tyrant brother.
- The act of smothering a kick (see verb section).
