different between smash vs wither

English

Etymology

From a blend of smack +? mash. Compare Swedish smask (“a light explosion, crack, report”), dialectal Swedish smaska (“to smack, kiss”), Danish smaske (“to smack with the lips”), Low German smaksen (“to smack with the lips, kiss”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /smæ?/
• Rhymes: -æ?

Noun

smash (plural smashes)

1. The sound of a violent impact; a violent striking together.

2. (Britain, colloquial) A traffic collision.

3. (colloquial) Something very successful or popular (as music, food, fashion, etc); a hit.
   • 2019, Ginaluca Russo, "Taylor Swift Stuns In a Periwinkle Ruffle Mini Dress on the Billboard Music Awards Red Carpet", Teen Vogue, 1 May 2019:

     All together, this look is a smash in our books.
4. (tennis) A very hard overhead shot hit sharply downward.
5. (colloquial, archaic) A bankruptcy.
6. A kind of julep cocktail containing chunks of fresh fruit that can be eaten after finishing the drink.

Synonyms

• (sound of a violent impact): crash
• (colloquial: traffic accident): crash
• (colloquial: something very successful): smash hit

Descendants

• ? Czech: sme?
• ? Serbo-Croatian: sme?

Translations

Verb

smash (third-person singular simple present smashes, present participle smashing, simple past and past participle smashed)

1. To break (something brittle) violently.
   • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, Chapter X

     Now, I still think that for this box of matches to have escaped the wear of time for immemorial years was a strange, and for me, a most fortunate thing. Yet oddly enough I found here a far more unlikely substance, and that was camphor. I found it in a sealed jar, that, by chance, I supposed had been really hermetically sealed. I fancied at first the stuff was paraffin wax, and smashed the jar accordingly. But the odor of camphor was unmistakable.

2. (intransitive) To be destroyed by being smashed.

3. To hit extremely hard.

4. (figuratively) To ruin completely and suddenly.

5. (transitive, figuratively) To defeat overwhelmingly; to gain a comprehensive success over.

   I really smashed that English exam.

6. (US) To deform through continuous pressure.

7. (transitive, slang, vulgar) To have sexual intercourse with.
   • 2020 November 7, Dave Chappelle on Saturday Night Live:

     Farmersonly.com. A website that begs the question, what kind of bitch only smashes with farmers?

Synonyms

• (break violently): dash, shatter
• (be destroyed by being smashed): shatter
• (hit extremely hard): pound, thump, wallop; see also Thesaurus:hit
• (ruin completely and suddenly): dash
• (defeat overwhelmingly): slaughter, trounce
• (have sexual intercourse with): coitize, go to bed with, sleep with; see also Thesaurus:copulate with

Descendants

• ? Catalan: esmaixar

Translations

Related terms

Anagrams

• HMSAS, SAHMs, Sahms, Shams, shams

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English smash.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sma?/

Noun

smash m (plural smashs)

1. (tennis) smash

Related terms

• smasher

Further reading

• “smash” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English smash.

Noun

smash m (invariable)

1. smash (tennis shot)

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from English smash.

Noun

smash m (plural smashes)

1. (tennis) smash (overhead shot hit sharply downward)

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?w?ð?/; enPR: w?th??r
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?w?ð?/
• Rhymes: -?ð?(?)
• Homophone: whither (some accents)

Etymology 1

From Middle English widren, wydderen (“to dry up, shrivel”), related to or perhaps an alteration of Middle English wederen (“to expose to weather”), from Old English wederian (“to expose to weather, exhibit a change of weather”).

Verb

wither (third-person singular simple present withers, present participle withering, simple past and past participle withered)

1. (intransitive) To shrivel, droop or dry up, especially from lack of water.
2. (transitive) To cause to shrivel or dry up.

   • There was a man which had his hand withered.

   • now warm in love, now with'ring in the grave

3. (intransitive, figuratively) To lose vigour or power; to languish; to pass away.
   • 1782, William Cowper, Expostulation

     States thrive or wither as moons wax and wane.

4. (intransitive) To become helpless due to emotion.
5. (transitive) To make helpless due to emotion.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Usage notes

• Not to be confused with whither.

Derived terms

• wither away

Translations

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

wither (plural withers)

1. singular of withers (“part of the back of a four-legged animal that is between the shoulder blades”)
   • 2007, Sara Douglass, Enchanter, Macmillan (?ISBN):

     Timozel had slid his feet quickly from the stirrups and swung his leg over the horse's wither as it slumped to the ground, standing himself in one graceful movement.

   • 2008, Kate Luxmoore, Introduction to Equestrian Sports (?ISBN), page 140:

     If a saddle tips too far forward it may rest on the horse's wither and cause pain. There should always be a gap of roughly 5 cm between the horse's wither and the pommel when you are sitting on the saddle.

Etymology 3

From Middle English wither, from Old English wiþer (“again, against”, adverb in compounds), from Proto-West Germanic *wiþr (“against, toward”).

Adverb

wither (comparative more wither, superlative most wither)

1. (obsolete or chiefly in compounds) Against, in opposition to.

Etymology 4

From Middle English witheren, from Old English wiþerian (“to resist, oppose, struggle against”).

Verb

wither (third-person singular simple present withers, present participle withering, simple past and past participle withered)

1. (obsolete) To go against, resist; oppose.

Anagrams

• whiter, writhe