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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
Derived Forms
- ˈsmothery, adjective
Other Words From
- smother·a·ble adjective
- half-smothered adjective
- un·smother·a·ble adjective
- un·smothered adjective
- un·smother·ing adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of smother1
Word History and Origins
Origin of smother1
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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