What does "smother" mean?

Smother: To affect as by suffocation; to stife; to deprive of air by a thick covering, as of ashes, of smoke, or the like; as, to smother a fire.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Hence, to repress the action of; to cover from public view; to suppress; to conceal; as, to smother one's displeasure.
  2. 3.To be suffocated or stifled.
  3. 4.To burn slowly, without sufficient air; to smolder.
  4. 5.Stifling smoke; thick dust. Shak.
  5. 6.A state of suppression. [Obs.] Not to keep their suspicions in smother. Bacon. Smother fly (Zoöl.), an aphid.

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