smother
Plural: smothers
Noun
- a confused multitude of things
- a stifling cloud of smoke
- That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
- Smoldering; slow combustion.
- That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
- Cookware used in such cooking.
- That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
- The state of being stifled; suppression.
- That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
- Stifling smoke; thick dust.
- That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
- The act of smothering a kick (see verb section).
Verb
Verb Forms: smothered, smothering, smothers
- To prevent a person or animal from breathing by covering.
- envelop completely
- "smother the meat in gravy"
- deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing
- "Othello smothered Desdemona with a pillow"
- conceal or hide
- "smother a yawn"
- form an impenetrable cover over
- "the butter cream smothered the cake"
- deprive of the oxygen necessary for combustion
- "smother fires"
- To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.
- To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air.
- To reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish
- To cook in a close dish.
- To daub or smear.
- To be suffocated.
- 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.
- 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.
Examples
- beefsteak smothered with onions
- He smothered her by pressing his hand over her mouth.
- My opponent tried to SMOTHER my strategy by blocking all the triple-word scores.
- She is smothered by the rope.
- The committee's report was smothered.
- to smother a fire with ashes
Origin / Etymology
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-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”).
Synonyms
asphyxiate, clutter, fuddle, jumble, mare's nest, muddle, muffle, put out, repress, stifle, strangle, suffocate, surround, welter, conceal, cover up, hide
Scrabble Score: 12
smother: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordsmother: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
smother: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary