smoke

[smohk]

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noun

the visible vapor and gases given off by a burning or smoldering substance, especially the gray, brown, or blackish mixture of gases and suspended carbon particles resulting from the combustion of wood, peat, coal, or other organic matter.

something resembling this, as vapor or mist, flying particles, etc.

something unsubstantial, evanescent, or without result: Their hopes and dreams proved to be smoke.

an obscuring condition: the smoke of controversy.

an act or spell of smoking something, especially tobacco: They had a smoke during the intermission.

something for smoking, as a cigar or cigarette: This is the best smoke on the market.

Slang. marijuana.

Slang. a homemade drink consisting of denatured alcohol and water.

Physics, Chemistry. a system of solid particles suspended in a gaseous medium.

a bluish or brownish gray color.

verb (used without object), smoked, smok·ing.

to give off or emit smoke, as in burning.

to give out smoke offensively or improperly, as a stove.

to send forth steam or vapor, dust, or the like.

to draw into the mouth and puff out the smoke of tobacco or the like, as from a pipe or cigarette.

Slang. to ride or travel with great speed.

Australian.

to flee.
to abscond.

verb (used with object), smoked, smok·ing.

to draw into the mouth and puff out the smoke of: to smoke tobacco.

to use (a pipe, cigarette, etc.) in this process.

to expose to smoke.

to fumigate (rooms, furniture, etc.).

to cure (meat, fish, etc.) by exposure to smoke.

to color or darken by smoke.

Verb Phrases

smoke out,

to drive from a refuge by means of smoke.
to force into public view or knowledge; reveal: to smoke out the leaders of the spy ring.

Idioms

go up/endin smoke, to terminate without producing a result; be unsuccessful: All our dreams went up in smoke.

Origin of smoke

before 1000; (noun) Middle English; Old English smoca; (v.) Middle English smoken, Old English smocian

Related formssmoke·like, adjectivean·ti·smoke, adjective, nounun·smoked, adjectiveun·smok·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for smoke

exhaust, mist, gas, fog, soot, smog, vapor, pollution, butt, cig

Examples from the Web for smoke

Contemporary Examples of smoke

When it comes to the increasing number of rape allegations leveled at Bill Cosby, the smoke is becoming impenetrable.
Butts, Brawls, and Bill Cosby: The Biggest Celebrity Scandals of 2014 
Kevin Fallon
December 27, 2014
“At least it keeps the mosquitoes away,” one of my table-mates said, as we watched the swooshes of smoke waft into the Havana sky.
Canada ♥ Cuba Just Got Complicated
Shinan Govani
December 22, 2014
Perhaps the guards at the Guantanamo Bay detention facilities will finally be allowed to smoke cubans, too.
Cigar Dealers Light Up Over Cuba News
Asawin Suebsaeng
December 17, 2014
She was separated from her colleagues after they were overcome by smoke and heat and ordered to withdraw.
The Mystery Death Of A Female Firefighter
Christopher Moraff
December 13, 2014
Perhaps the smoke of all the early season buzz really did get in the Hollywood Foreign Press's eyes.
15 Enraging Golden Globe TV Snubs and Surprises: Amy Poehler, 'Mad Men' & More
Kevin Fallon
December 11, 2014

Historical Examples of smoke

And now, Uncle Paul, if you don't object I'll take out my pipe and have a smoke.
Brave and Bold
Horatio Alger
She had boasted to him once of having learned to smoke at school.
Malbone
Thomas Wentworth Higginson
He tossed them onto the table, and Hal Dozier rolled his smoke in silence.
Way of the Lawless
Max Brand
As I eat my breakfast and smoke my pipe, I ponder over my task.
Ballads of a Bohemian
Robert W. Service
And now they all vanish in a puff of smoke from the chimney.
Old Ticonderoga, A Picture of The Past
Nathaniel Hawthorne

British Dictionary definitions for smoke

smoke

noun

the product of combustion, consisting of fine particles of carbon carried by hot gases and air

any cloud of fine particles suspended in a gas

the act of smoking tobacco or other substances, esp in a pipe or as a cigarette or cigar
the duration of smoking such substances

informal

a cigarette or cigar
a substance for smoking, such as pipe tobacco or marijuana

something with no concrete or lasting substanceeverything turned to smoke

a thing or condition that obscures

any of various colours similar to that of smoke, esp a dark grey with a bluish, yellowish, or greenish tinge

go up in smoke or end up in smoke

to come to nothing
to burn up vigorously
to flare up in anger

verb

(intr) to emit smoke or the like, sometimes excessively or in the wrong place

to draw in on (a burning cigarette, etc) and exhale the smoke
to use tobacco for smoking

(intr) slang to use marijuana for smoking

(tr) to bring (oneself) into a specified state by smoking

(tr) to subject or expose to smoke

(tr) to cure (meat, fish, cheese, etc) by treating with smoke

(tr) to fumigate or purify the air of (rooms, etc)

(tr) to darken (glass, etc) by exposure to smoke

(intr) slang to move, drive, ride, etc, very fast

(tr) obsolete to tease or mock

(tr) archaic to suspect or detect

Word Origin for smoke

Old English smoca (n); related to Middle Dutch smieken to emit smoke

Smoke

noun

the Smoke short for Big Smoke

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for smoke

n.1

late Old English smoca (rare) "fumes and volatile material given off by burning substances," related to smeocan "give off smoke," from Proto-Germanic *smuk- (cf. Middle Dutch smooc, Dutch smook, Middle High German smouch, German Schmauch), from PIE root *smeug- "to smoke; smoke" (cf. Armenian mux "smoke," Greek smykhein "to burn with smoldering flame," Old Irish much, Welsh mwg "smoke").

The more usual noun was Old English smec, which became dialectal smeech. Abusive meaning "black person" attested from 1913, American English. Smoke-eater "firefighter" is c.1930. Figurative phrase go up in smoke "be destroyed" (as if by fire) is from 1933. Smoke alarm first attested 1936; smoke-detector from 1957.

Old English smocian "to produce smoke, emit smoke," especially as a result of burning, from smoke (n.1). Meaning "to drive out or away or into the open by means of smoke" is attested from 1590s. Meaning "to apply smoke to, to cure (bacon, fish, etc.) by exposure to smoke" is first attested 1590s. In connection with tobacco, "draw fumes from burning into the mouth," first recorded 1604 in James I's "Counterblast to Tobacco." Related: Smoked; smoking. Smoking gun in figurative sense of "incontestable evidence" is from 1974.

n.2

"cigarette," slang, 1882, from smoke (n.1). Also "opium" (1884). Meaning "a spell of smoking tobacco" is recorded from 1835.

smoke in Science

smoke

[smōk]

A mixture of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other gases, usually containing particles of soot or other solids, produced by the burning of carbon-containing materials such as wood and coal.

Idioms and Phrases with smoke

smoke

In addition to the idiom beginning with smoke

smoke out

also see:

chain smoker
go up in flames (smoke)
holy cow (smoke)
no smoke without fire
watch one's dust (smoke)