smite
- to strike or hit hard, with or as with the hand, a stick, or other weapon: She smote him on the back with her umbrella.
- to deliver or deal (a blow, hit, etc.) by striking hard.
- to strike down, injure, or slay: His sword had smitten thousands.
- to afflict or attack with deadly or disastrous effect: smitten by polio.
- to affect mentally or morally with a sudden pang: His conscience smote him.
- to affect suddenly and strongly with a specified feeling: They were smitten with terror.
- to impress favorably; charm; enamor: He was smitten by her charms.
- to strike; deal a blow.
- smite hip and thigh. hip1(def 9).
Origin of smite
Synonyms
Examples from the Web for smiter
Historical Examples
Do Quakers, when smitten on the right cheek, turn the left to the smiter?
The Romany RyeGeorge Borrow
Did I not with these eyes see the sword uplifted and the smiter strike?
The Disowned, CompleteEdward Bulwer-Lytton
Don't turn your other cheek if one has been smitten, but smite the smiter, and heartily.
UnicornsJames Huneker
He was turning in a very literal sense his cheek to the smiter.
The Squire's DaughterSilas K(itto) Hocking
But he is not the sort of person who turns the other cheek to the smiter.
Cynthia's ChauffeurLouis Tracy
smite
- to strike with a heavy blow or blows
- to damage with or as if with blows
- to afflict or affect severelysmitten with flu
- to afflict in order to punish
- (intr foll by on) to strike forcibly or abruptlythe sun smote down on him
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for smiter
smite
v.
"to hit, strike, beat," mid-12c., from Old English smitan, which however is attested only as "to daub, smear on; soil, pollute, blemish, defile" (strong verb, past tense smat, past participle smiten), from Proto-Germanic *smitan (cf. Swedish smita, Danish smide "to smear, fling," Old Frisian smita, Middle Low German and Middle Dutch smiten "to cast, fling," Dutch smijten "to throw," Old High German smizan "to rub, strike," German schmeißen "to cast, fling," Gothic bismeitan "to spread, smear"). "The development of the various senses is not quite clear, but that of throwing is perh. the original one" [OED]. Watkins suggests "the semantic channel may have been slapping mud on walls in wattle and daub construction" and connects it with PIE *sme- "to smear;" Klein's sources also say this.
Sense of "slay in combat" (c.1300) is from Biblical expression smite to death, first attested c.1200. Meaning "visit disastrously" is mid-12c., also Biblical. Meaning "strike with passion or emotion" is from c.1300.