smothering
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smoth·er
(smŭth′ər)v. smoth·ered, smoth·er·ing, smoth·ers
v.tr.
1.
a. To suffocate (another).
b. To deprive (a fire) of the oxygen necessary for combustion.
2. To conceal, suppress, or hide: Management smothered the true facts of the case. We smothered our indignation and pressed onward.
3. To cover thickly: smother chicken in sauce.
4. To lavish a surfeit of a given emotion on (someone): The grandparents smothered the child with affection.
v.intr.
1.
a. To suffocate.
b. To be extinguished.
2. To be concealed or suppressed.
3. To be surfeited with an emotion.
n.
Something, such as a dense cloud of smoke or dust, that smothers or tends to smother.
[Middle English smotheren, from smorther, dense smoke; see smolder.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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| Adj. | 1. | smothering - causing difficulty in breathing especially through lack of fresh air and presence of heat; "the choking June dust"; "the smothering soft voices"; "smothering heat"; "the room was suffocating--hot and airless" breathless, dyspneal, dyspneic, dyspnoeal, dyspnoeic - not breathing or able to breathe except with difficulty; "breathless at thought of what I had done"; "breathless from running"; "followed the match with breathless interest" |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
smothering
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