— smotherable , adj.
/smudh"euhr/ , 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; (n.) ME smorther dense smoke; akin to OE smorian to suffocate; (v.) ME smo ( r ) theren, deriv. of the n. ]