smother

• smoother (obsolete)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsmʌðɚ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsmʌðə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /ˈsmʊðə/
• (Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈsmʊðəɹ/
• (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): /ˈsmʌðəɹ/
• Rhymes: -ʌðə(ɹ)

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”).^[1]

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”).

smother (third-person singular simple present smothers, present participle smothering, simple past and past participle smothered)

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

   He smothered her by pressing his hand over her mouth.

   • 1817 December, Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Revolt of Islam. […]”, in [Mary] Shelley, editor, The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 280:

     But I am Pestilence;—hither and thither
     I flit about, that I may slay and smother;—
     All lips which I have kissed must surely wither,
     But Death’s—if thou art he, we’ll go to work together!

   • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

     […] he dashes to his destination at such a speed that when he stops the horse half smothers him in a cloud of steam.
     "Unbear him half a moment to freshen him up, and I'll be back."

   • 1895 October, Louis de Conte, translated by [Jean François Alden] [pseudonyms; Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain)], “Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc. […]”, in Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, volume XCI, number DXLV, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →ISSN, [book I], part II, chapter XVI, page 746, column 1:

     The awfulest thing was the silence; there wasn't a sound but the screaking of the saddles, the measured tramplings, and the sneezing of the horses, afflicted by the smothering dust-clouds which they kicked up.

2. (transitive) To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air.

   to smother a fire with ashes

3. (transitive) To reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish

   Synonyms: stifle, cover up, conceal, hide

   The committee's report was smothered.

4. (transitive, cooking) To cook in a close dish.

   beefsteak smothered with onions

5. (transitive) To daub or smear.
   • 2007 October 30, Jane E. Brody, “My Diet Strategy? Controlled Indulgence”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     And I keep quite a lot of it around, especially chocolate-covered almonds and Trader Joes minipretzels smothered in dark chocolate.

6. (intransitive) To be suffocated.

   She is smothered by the rope.

7. (intransitive) To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like.
8. (intransitive, of a fire) to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder.
9. (intransitive, figuratively) to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
10. (soccer) To get in the way of a kick of the ball.
    • 2011 December 27, Mike Henson, “Norwich 0 - 2 Tottenham”, in BBC Sport‎^[2]:

      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.

11. (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.
12. (boxing) To prevent the development of an opponent's attack by one's arm positioning.

• smotheriness

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).

smother (countable and uncountable, plural smothers)

1. That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
   1. Smoldering; slow combustion.
   2. Cookware used in such cooking.
      • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], page 404:

        Thus must I from the smoke into the smother […]

   3. (dated) The state of being stifled; suppression.
      • 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Suspicion”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:

        not to keep their suspicions in smother

   4. (dated) Stifling smoke; thick dust.
      • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii], lines 239-40:

        Thus must I from the smoke into the smother, / From tyrant duke unto tyrant brother.

      • 1868, Judy, volumes 3-4, page 20:

        Then we passed the Grand Opéra, at which our fine taste revolted; the Rue de la Paix, all in a smother with the dust caused by its improvement, at which our eyes naturally distilled water; […]

   5. (Australian rules football) The act of smothering a kick (see verb section).

• “smother”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “smother, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

• Mothers, moth-ers, mothers, thermos