Lexic.us

Definition of Smother

1. Noun. A confused multitude of things.

2. Verb. Envelop completely. "The wind storms smother the area with dust and dirt"; "Smother the meat in gravy"

3. Noun. A stifling cloud of smoke.

4. Verb. Deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing. "They want to smother the prisoners "; "The child suffocated herself with a plastic bag that the parents had left on the floor"

5. Verb. Conceal or hide. "Strangle a yawn"

6. Verb. Form an impenetrable cover over. "Dust and dirt smother the area"; "The butter cream smothered the cake"

7. Verb. Deprive of the oxygen necessary for combustion. "Smother fires"

Definition of Smother

1. v. t. 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; as, to smother a child.

2. v. i. To be suffocated or stifled.

3. n. Stifling smoke; thick dust.

4. n. That which smothers or causes a sensation of smothering, as smoke, fog, the foam of the sea, a confused multitude of things.

Definition of Smother

1. Verb. (transitive) To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of. ¹

2. Verb. (transitive) To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air: as, to smother a fire with ashes. ¹

3. Verb. (transitive) 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. ¹

4. Verb. (transitive) In cookery: to cook in a close dish: as, beefsteak smothered with onions. ¹

5. Verb. (transitive) To daub or smear. ¹

6. Verb. (intransitive) To be suffocated. ¹

7. Verb. (intransitive) To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like. ¹

8. Verb. (intransitive) Of a fire: to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder. ¹

9. Verb. (intransitive) Figuratively: to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed. ¹

10. Verb. (soccer) To get in the way of a kick of the ball ¹

11. 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. ¹

12. Noun. That which smothers or appears to smother, in any sense. ¹

13. Noun. The state of being stifled; suppression. ¹

14. Noun. (Australian rules football) The act of smothering a kick (see above). ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Smother

1. to prevent from breathing [v -ED, -ING, -S]

Medical Definition of Smother

1. 1. 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; as, to smother a child. 2. To affect as by suffocation; to stife; to deprive of air by a thick covering, as of ashes, of smoke, or the like; as, to smother a fire. 3. Hence, to repress the action of; to cover from public view; to suppress; to conceal; as, to smother one's displeasure. Origin: OE. Smotheren; akin to E. Smoor. See Smoor. 1. Stifling smoke; thick dust. 2. A state of suppression. "Not to keep their suspicions in smother. " (Bacon) Smother fly, an aphid. Origin: OE. Smorther. See Smother. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Smother

smooting smoots smorat smorbrod smorbrods smore smored smores smorgasbord smorgasbords

smoring smorzando smorzato smote smoterlich smother (current term) smothered smotherer smotherers smotheriness

smothering smotheringly smothers smothery smouch smouched smouches smouching smoulder smouldered

Literary usage of Smother

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Popular Science Monthly by Harry Houdini Collection (Library of Congress) (1890)
"... when they lay aside their envelope, which we call their getting up. We also say, when we smother them with hot water, that they are taking a bath. FIG. ..."

2. The Savoy Opera and the Savoyards by Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald (1899)
"Our feelings we with difficulty smother When constabulary duty's to be done ; Ah, take one consideration with another, A policeman's lot is not a happy one. ..."

3. Cyclopedia of American Horticulture: Comprising Suggestions for Cultivation by Liberty Hyde Bailey, Wilhelm Miller (1900)
"In rich soil the roots spread rapidly, and will smother out all other plants unless confined in tubs. ..."

4. Political History of Secession to the Beginning of the American Civil War by Daniel Wait ( Howe (1914)
"It is manifest that the politicians, both Democratic and Whig, at least those of the North, were anxious to smother the further agitation of the slavery ..."

5. Outing (1892)
"Each society was singing their songs at the top of their lungs and trying to smother the other. There was, however, no scuffling among them, ..."

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