smother

American  

[smuhth-er] / ˈsmʌð ər /

verb (used with object)

1. to stifle or suffocate, as by smoke or other means of preventing free breathing.

2. to extinguish or deaden (fire, coals, etc.) by covering so as to exclude air.

3. to cover closely or thickly; envelop.

   to smother a steak with mushrooms.

4. to suppress or repress.

   to smother feelings.

5. Cooking. to steam (food) slowly in a heavy, tightly closed vessel with a minimum of liquid.

   smothered chicken and onions.

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verb (used without object)

1. to become stifled or suffocated; be prevented from breathing.

2. to be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.

noun

1. dense, stifling smoke.

2. a smoking or smoldering state, as of burning matter.

3. dust, fog, spray, etc., in a dense or enveloping cloud.

4. an overspreading profusion of anything.

   a smother of papers.

smother British  

/ ˈsmʌðə /

verb

1. to suffocate or stifle by cutting off or being cut off from the air

2. (tr) to surround (with) or envelop (in)

   he smothered her with love

3. (tr) to extinguish (a fire) by covering so as to cut it off from the air

4. to be or cause to be suppressed or stifled

   smother a giggle

5. (tr) to cook or serve (food) thickly covered with sauce, etc

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noun

1. anything, such as a cloud of smoke, that stifles

2. a profusion or turmoil

3. archaic a state of smouldering or a smouldering fire

Other Word Forms

• half-smothered
  adjective
• smotherable
  adjective
• smothery
  adjective
• unsmotherable
  adjective
• unsmothered
  adjective
• unsmothering
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of smother

1125–75; (noun) Middle English smorther dense smoke; akin to Old English smorian to suffocate; (v.) Middle English smo ( r ) theren, derivative of the noun

Explanation

To smother is to overwhelm or suffocate. If you've ever had a boyfriend or girlfriend who calls you twenty five times an hour to check up on you, then you know what it means to be smothered by someone. The word smother literally means to deprive of oxygen, so it can be used to refer to someone who gets suffocated by a pillow. In everyday conversation, the word is often used to refer to the act of making someone feel like they’re being deprived of oxygen or personal space. If you have a mother who likes to smother you by asking where you're going every time you see her, then it's likely you’re already dreaming of moving out!

Example Sentences

Smother sections of lawn beneath layers of cardboard, then mulch over the area in winter.

From Seattle Times • May 26, 2022

The earliest reference I found in print is a recipe “To Smother Young Chickens” in Lettice Bryan’s “The Kentucky Housewife,” originally published in 1839.

From Washington Post • Mar. 9, 2022

First he called to check in on Mary Smother, an 80-year-old who had started coming to Gordon Chapel after her church closed — only to come down with the virus.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 30, 2020

Smother your targets with largesse and you own them.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 27, 2018

Smother it under a cloak and the cloak took fire; slap at a fleck of it with your palm and your hand was aflame.

From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin

Related Words

• choke
• douse
• envelop
• overwhelm
• quash
• quell
• snuff
• squelch
• stifle
• strangle
• suffocate
• suppress
• surround