I. ˈsmōk noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English smoca; akin to Old English smēocan to emit smoke, Middle Dutch smieken to emit smoke, Middle High German smouch smoke, Greek smychein to smolder, Lithuanian smáugti to suffocate, choke
1.
a.
(1) : the gaseous products of burning carbonaceous materials made visible by the presence of small particles of carbon
(2) : a similar incompletely burned volatilized product resulting from incomplete combustion and finally settling as soot — compare flame 1
b. : a suspension of solid or liquid particles in a gas : fume 1
2.
a.
(1) : a mass or column of smoke
the fifty smokes … curling from the valley — J.F.Cooper
(2) : a smudge used especially to drive away insects
b. archaic : fireside , hearth
3.
a. : fume or vapor often resulting from the action of heat on moisture
steeds … whose breaths dimmed the sun with smoke — John Lyly
b. smokes plural : dense white mists occurring in the dry season along the Guinea coast of Africa
4. : visible or tangible evidence (as of secret activity)
such a hell of a lot of smoke … that there must be enough flame to justify refusing a divorce — F.M.Ford
5. : something of little substance, permanence, or value
these aspirations and visions were only smoke — Van Wyck Brooks
6. : something tending to cloud or obscure
most of the smoke generated by the alleged conflict between poetry and science — C.I.Glicksberg
7.
a.
(1) : something to smoke : tobacco — often used in plural
what they spend each year on smokes is … less than what they spend on liquor — Dwight Macdonald
(2) : cigarette
a reduction to seven cents a pack on smokes — G.E.Cruikshank
b.
[ smoke (II) ]
: an act or spell of smoking tobacco
let's light our pipes and take a short smoke — A.B.Longstreet
8.
a. : a pale blue that is redder and paler than average powder blue or Sistine and redder and duller than average cadet gray
b. : any of the colors of smoke viewed against various usual backgrounds (as smoke blue, smoke brown, smoke gray, smoke yellow)
c. : a nearly neutral slightly reddish dark gray that is darker than grebe or lead
9.
a. : cheap liquor
b. : any of various drinks used as a substitute for liquor ; specifically : a drink consisting of wood alcohol and water
10. : speed
a pitcher with plenty of smoke on his fast ball
11. : negro — often taken to be offensive
12. : smoke cat
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English smoken, from Old English smocian, from smoca, n.
intransitive verb
1.
a.
(1) : to emit or exhale smoke
hard by a cottage chimney smokes — John Milton
(2) : to emit smoke as the result of faulty burning or inadequate draft
the wick … flared and smoked — D.R.Murphy
b. : to give off something resembling smoke
the marsh smokes in the sun
especially : steam
the horse's flanks smoked
2. archaic : to undergo severe pain or punishment : suffer
some of you shall smoke for it in Rome — Shakespeare
3.
a. : to spread like smoke
a yellow mist far smoking o'er the interminable plain — James Thomson †1748
b. : to rise like or as if like smoke
the anger of the Lord and his jealousy would smoke against that man — Deut 29: 20 (Revised Standard Version)
4.
a. : to inhale and exhale the fumes of tobacco or something resembling tobacco from a pipe, cigar, or cigarette
has been smoking for six years
b. : to serve in a specified way for smoking
the larger sizes smoked the best — Ben Riker
5. archaic : to have a notion or understanding of something : comprehend
6. : to go at a rapid rate : speed
smoked along over the levels as fast as a pack in full cry — Rudyard Kipling
7. Australia : to run away : abscond
8. of a clay pigeon : to break into small pieces : shatter
transitive verb
1. : to subject to the action of smoke: as
a. : fumigate
a good day for smoking ship — R.H.Dana
b. : to drive away (as mosquitoes) by smoke
c. : to blacken or discolor with smoke
looked at the sun through smoked glasses — Ellen Glasgow
d. : to cure (as meat) by exposure to smoke
smoked ham
smoked salmon
e. : to stupefy (as bees) by smoke
2. archaic : to have an inkling or suspicion of : suspect
it's a capital notion … if he doesn't smoke the trick — Samuel Lover
3.
a. : to inhale and exhale the smoke of : use in smoking
smoked one cigarette after another
smoked a pipe for many years
b. : to bring to a specified state by smoking
if a man smoke himself to death — James I
4. archaic : to make fun of : ridicule
smoked her and baited her and … drove her away — John Keats
5. archaic : to take notice of : observe
smoke his eyes, how they glare — John Wilson †1854
6. : to cover with smoke so as to prevent enemy observation
the wind and terrain were adaptable to smoking another mountainside on our right forward flank — G.E.Lynch
7. : to cause (a clay pigeon) to break into small pieces
III. transitive verb
1. slang : kill 1a
2. slang : to defeat decisively
smoked the competition