smother

Noun · Verb
US[smuhth-er]/ˈsmʌðɚ/2 syllables
Synonyms: clutterjumblemuddlefuddlemare's nestweltersurroundasphyxiatesuffocatestiflestranglemuffle

Open English WordNet

Verb (5)smothered, smothering

  1. envelop completely“smother the meat in gravy”Synonyms: surroundMore general coverMore specific welter
  2. 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”Synonyms: asphyxiatesuffocateMore general killInvolves coverSimilar suffocate, stifle
  3. suppress in order to conceal or hide“smother a yawn”“muffle one's anger”“strangle a laugh”“repress a cry of fear”Synonyms: stiflestranglemufflerepressMore general inhibit, bottle up
  4. form an impenetrable cover over“the butter cream smothered the cake”More general cover, spread over
  5. deprive of the oxygen necessary for combustion“smother fires”Synonyms: put outMore general snuff out, extinguishInvolves cover

Noun (2)

  1. a confused multitude of thingsSynonyms: clutterjumblemuddlefuddlemare's nestwelterType of disorderliness, disorderKinds rummage
  2. a stifling cloud of smokeType of smoke, fume

Related words suffocation noun, asphyxia noun

Word of the day · Nov 6About this word
punctiliousadjective

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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Smoth′er transitive verb [past tense & past participle Smothered; present participle & verbal noun Smothering.]

Origin: 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 intransitive verb

1. To be suffocated or stifled.

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

Smoth′er noun

Origin: OE. smorther. See Smother, transitive verb

1. Stifling smoke; thick dust. William Shakespeare

2. A state of suppression. obsolete

Not to keep their suspicions in smother.— Francis, Baron Verulam Bacon

3. That which smothers or causes a sensation of smothering, as smoke, fog, the foam of the sea, a confused multitude of things.

Then they vanished, swallowed up in the grayness of the evening and the smoke and smother of the storm.— The Century Illust. Monthly Mag.

Smother fly Zoology, an aphid.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: 1913 supplement

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