smother

UK: /ˈsmʌðə^r/ US: /ˈsmʌðɚ/ ,(smuᵺ′ər)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

smoth•er /ˈsmʌðɚ/   v. 

1. to suffocate, as by smoke or lack of air: [~ + object]
   He was smothered by the smoke.
   [no object]
   He'll smother under those blankets.
2. to extinguish or deaden (fire, etc.) by covering:
   [~ + object] to smother the fire with blankets.
3. to cover closely or thickly:
   [~ + object] to smother a steak with mushrooms.
4. to hold back;
   suppress or repress:
   [~ + object] to smother one's grief.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

smoth•er  (smuᵺ′ər), v.t. 

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. [Cookery.] to steam (food) slowly in a heavy, tightly closed vessel with a minimum of liquid:
   smothered chicken and onions.

v.i. 

6. to become stifled or suffocated;
   be prevented from breathing.
7. to be stifled;
   be suppressed or concealed.

n. 

8. dense, stifling smoke.
9. a smoking or smoldering state, as of burning matter.
10. dust, fog, spray, etc., in a dense or enveloping cloud.
11. an overspreading profusion of anything:
    a smother of papers.

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

smoth′er•a•ble, adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

smother / ˈsmʌðə/ verb

1. to suffocate or stifle by cutting off or being cut off from the air
2. (transitive) to surround (with) or envelop (in): he smothered her with love
3. (transitive) 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. (transitive) to cook or serve (food) thickly covered with sauce, etc

noun

1. anything, such as a cloud of smoke, that stifles
2. a profusion or turmoil

Etymology: Old English smorian to suffocate; related to Middle Low German smōren

ˈsmothery adjective