smother.
To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.
Meaning & usage
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.
To cook in a close dish.
beefsteak smothered with onions
To daub or smear.
To be suffocated.
She is smothered by the rope.
To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like.
to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder.
to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
To get in the way of a kick of the ball.
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.
To prevent the development of an opponent's attack by one's arm positioning.
Where this word comes from
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”).
That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly Smoldering; slow combustion.
That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly Cookware used in such cooking.
That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly The state of being stifled; suppression.
That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly Stifling smoke; thick dust.
That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly The act of smothering a kick (see verb section).
Where this word comes from
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).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.