different between smothery vs smother

English

Etymology

smother +? -y

Adjective

smothery (comparative more smothery, superlative most smothery)

1. Tending to smother; stifling.
   • 1880, Robert Browning, Pan and Luna

     But what means this? The downy swathes combine,
     Conglobe, the smothery coy-caressing stuff
     Curdles about her!

English

Alternative forms

• smoother (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?sm?ð?/
• Rhymes: -?ð?(r)

Etymology 1

From Middle English smothren, smortheren, alteration (due to smother, smorther (“a suffocating vapour, dense smoke”, noun)) of Middle English smoren (“to smother”), from Old English smorian (“to smother, suffocate, choke”), from Proto-Germanic *smur?n? (“to suffocate, strangle”). Cognate with Middle Low German smoren, smurten (“to choke, suffocate”), West Flemish smoren (“to smoke, reek”), Dutch smoren (“to suffocate, smother", also "to stew, simmer”), German schmoren (“to stew, simmer, braise”).

Verb

smother (third-person singular simple present smothers, present participle smothering, simple past and past participle smothered)

1. (transitive) To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.
2. (transitive) To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air.

3. (transitive) To reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish

   Synonyms: stifle, cover up, conceal, hide

4. (transitive) In cookery: to cook in a close dish.

5. (transitive) To daub or smear.
6. (intransitive) To be suffocated.
7. (intransitive) To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like.
8. (intransitive, of a fire) to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder.
9. (intransitive, figuratively) to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
10. (soccer) To get in the way of a kick of the ball.
11. (Australian rules football) To get in the way of a kick of the ball, preventing it going very far. When a player is kicking the ball, an opponent who is close enough will reach out with his hands and arms to get over the top of it, so the ball hits his hands after leaving the kicker's boot, dribbling away.

Related terms

• smotheration
• smotheriness
• smothery

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English smother, smorther (“a suffocating vapour, dense smoke”), from Old English smorþor (“smoke”, literally “that which suffocates”), from smorian (“to suffocate, choke”) + -þor (instrumental suffix).

Noun

smother (plural smothers)

1. That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
   1. Smoldering; slow combustion.
   2. Cookware used in such cooking. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
   3. (dated) The state of being stifled; suppression.
      • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Suspicion

        not to keep their suspicions in smother

   4. (dated) Stifling smoke; thick dust.
      • 1868, Judy (volumes 3-4, page 20)

        Then we passed the Grand Opéra, at which our fine taste revolted; the Rue de la Paix, all in a smother with the dust caused by its improvement, at which our eyes naturally distilled water; […]

   5. (Australian rules football) The act of smothering a kick (see verb section).

References

• smother in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• moth-ers, mothers, thermos