smother

Meaning

Verb

1. (transitive) To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.
2. (transitive) To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air.
3. (transitive) To reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish
4. (transitive) To cook in a close dish.
5. (transitive) To daub or smear.
6. (intransitive) To be suffocated.
7. (intransitive) To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like.
8. (intransitive) to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder.
9. (figuratively, intransitive) to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
10. To get in the way of a kick of the ball.
11. 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. To prevent the development of an opponent's attack by one's arm positioning.

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
2. (countable, uncountable) That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
3. (countable, dated, uncountable) That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
4. (countable, dated, uncountable) That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
5. (countable, uncountable) That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly

Synonyms

suffocate

stifle

choke

asphyxiate

strangle

suppress

muffle

overwhelm

surround

blanket

welter

put out

repress

drown

crush

smoulder

quell

clutter

fuddle

mare’s nest

jumble

conceal

quench

muddle

cover

grow over

humid

incase

inundate

kill

🔪🩸👤

lavish

mantle

mask

😷

muggy

obliterate

obscure

obstruct

occult

overdo

overgrow

overlay

paste

quash

run over

scud

shower

🚿

shroud

smolder

strangulate

strew

Translations

étouffer

soffocare

ersticken

sofocar

πνίγω

asfixiar

stikken

ahogar

spegnere

apagar

verstikken

réprimer

asfissiare

asfixiar

sufocar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈsmʌðɚ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: smothren

Cognate with Old English: smoca

Cognate with Middle Low German: smoren

Cognate with West Flemish: smoren

Cognate with Dutch: smoren

Cognate with German: schmoren

Inherited from Middle English: smother

Inherited from Old English: smorþor

In summary

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”).
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”).