Added 10 October 2026
smother
/ˈsməðər/ verb
verb Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about smother at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
-
To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.
He smothered her by pressing his hand over her mouth.
-
To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air.
to smother a fire with ashes
-
To reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish
The committee's report was smothered.
noun
- That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly Smoldering; slow combustion. Cookware used in such cooking. The state of being stifled; suppression. Stifling smoke; thick dust. The act of smothering a kick (see verb section).
- Smoldering; slow combustion.
- Cookware used in such cooking.
Origin
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-West Germanic *smorōn, 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”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)