SMOTHER

smother

(noun) a stifling cloud of smoke

clutter, jumble, muddle, fuddle, mare's nest, welter, smother

(noun) a confused multitude of things

smother, stifle, strangle, muffle, repress

(verb) suppress in order to conceal or hide; “smother a yawn”; “muffle one’s anger”; “strangle a laugh”; “repress a cry of fear”

smother, surround

(verb) envelop completely; “smother the meat in gravy”

smother, put out

(verb) deprive of the oxygen necessary for combustion; “smother fires”

smother, asphyxiate, suffocate

(verb) deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing; “Othello smothered Desdemona with a pillow”; “The child suffocated herself with a plastic bag that the parents had left on the floor”

smother

(verb) form an impenetrable cover over; “the butter cream smothered the cake”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology 1

Verb

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

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

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

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

Synonyms: stifle, cover up, conceal, hide

(transitive) In cookery: to cook in a close dish.

(transitive) To daub or smear.

(intransitive) To be suffocated.

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

(intransitive, of a fire) to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder.

(intransitive, figuratively) to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.

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

(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.

Etymology 2

Noun

smother (plural smothers)

That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly

Smoldering; slow combustion.

Cookware used in such cooking.

(dated) The state of being stifled; suppression.

(dated) Stifling smoke; thick dust.

Anagrams

• moth-ers, mothers, thermos

Source: Wiktionary

Smoth"er, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Smothered; p. pr. & vb. n. Smothering.] Etym: [OE. smotheren; akin to E. smoor. See Smoor.]

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.

Smoth"er, v. i.

1. To be suffocated or stifled.

2. To burn slowly, without sufficient air; to smolder.

Smoth"er, n. Etym: [OE. smorther. See Smother, v. t.]

1. Stifling smoke; thick dust. Shak.

2. A state of suppression. [Obs.] Not to keep their suspicions in smother. Bacon. Smother fly (Zoöl.), an aphid.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

SMOTHER

Etymology 1

Verb

Etymology 2

Noun

Anagrams

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