Definition of "smother"

(transitive) To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.  quotations  examples

(transitive) To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air.  examples

(transitive) To reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish  examples

(transitive, cooking) To cook in a close dish.  examples

(transitive) To daub or smear.  examples

(intransitive) To be suffocated.  examples

(intransitive) To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like.  examples

(intransitive, of a fire) to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder.  examples

(intransitive, figuratively) to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.  examples

(soccer) To get in the way of a kick of the ball.  quotations  examples

(Australian rules football) 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.  examples

(boxing) To prevent the development of an opponent's attack by one's arm positioning.  examples

That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly

1. Smoldering; slow combustion.  examples

2. Cookware used in such cooking.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Thus must I from the smoke into the smother […]

     c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii], page 404

3. (dated) The state of being stifled; suppression.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • not to keep their suspicions in smother

     1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Suspicion”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret

4. (dated) Stifling smoke; thick dust.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Thus must I from the smoke into the smother, / From tyrant duke unto tyrant brother.

     c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act I, scene ii], lines 239-40

   • Then we passed the Grand Opéra, at which our fine taste revolted; the Rue de la Paix, all in a smother with the dust caused by its improvement, at which our eyes naturally distilled water; […]

     1868, Judy, volumes 3-4, page 20

5. (Australian rules football) The act of smothering a kick (see verb section).  examples