different between smite vs birch

English

Alternative forms

• smight (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English smiten, from Old English sm?tan (“to daub, smear, smudge; soil, defile, pollute”), from Proto-Germanic *sm?tan? (“to sling; throw; smear”), from Proto-Indo-European *smeyd- (“to smear, whisk, strike, rub”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian smiete (“to throw, toss”), West Frisian smite (“to throw”), Low German smieten (“to throw, chuck, toss”), Dutch smijten (“to fling, hurl, throw”), Middle Low German besmitten (“to soil, sully”), German schmeißen (“to fling, throw”), Danish smide (“to throw”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????????? (bismeitan, “to besmear, anoint”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: sm?t, IPA^(key): /sma?t/
• Rhymes: -a?t

Verb

smite (third-person singular simple present smites, present participle smiting, simple past smote or smited or (obsolete) smit, past participle smitten or smote or smited or (obsolete) smit)

1. (archaic) To hit, to strike.
   • It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. […]. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.
2. To strike down or kill with godly force.
   • 1611, King James Version, Exodus 3:19–20:

     And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.
3. To injure with divine power.
4. To kill violently; to slay.
5. To put to rout in battle; to overthrow by war.
6. To afflict; to chasten; to punish.
   • 1688, William Wake, Preparation for Death

     Let us not mistake the goodness of God, nor imagine that because he smites us, therefore we are forsaken by him.
7. (figuratively, now only in passive) To strike with love or infatuation.

Noun

smite (plural smites)

1. (archaic, rare) A heavy blow or stroke with a weapon, tool or the hand.

Translations

Anagrams

• METIs, MSTie, Metis, Métis, STEMI, Times, e-stim, emits, i-stem, items, metis, mites, métis, setim, stime, times

West Frisian

Etymology

From Old Frisian sm?ta, from Proto-Germanic *sm?tan?, from Proto-Indo-European *smeyd-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?smit?/

Verb

smite

1. to throw
2. to fling

Inflection

Further reading

• “smite (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011

English

Etymology

From Middle English birche, birk, from Old English bir?e, bier?e, from Proto-West Germanic *birkij?, from Proto-Germanic *birkij?, from Proto-Indo-European *b?erH?os.

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: bû(r)ch, IPA^(key): /b?t?/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: bû(r)ch, IPA^(key): /b??t?/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t?

Noun

birch (countable and uncountable, plural birches)

1. Any of various trees of the genus Betula, native to countries in the Northern Hemisphere.
2. A hard wood taken from the birch tree, typically used to make furniture.
3. A stick, rod or bundle of twigs made from birch wood, used for punishment.
4. A birch-bark canoe.

Synonyms

• (stick, rod or bundle of twigs): makepeace, switch

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

birch (third-person singular simple present birches, present participle birching, simple past and past participle birched)

1. to punish with a stick, bundle of twigs, or rod made of birch wood.
2. to punish as though one were using a stick, bundle of twigs, or rod made of birch wood.

Derived terms

• bircher

Translations

Middle English

Noun

birch

1. Alternative form of birche