smite

verb

1. (archaic)To hit; to strike.

   “Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”

   “That elf-maiden smote with her hand so white, “Sorrow and sickness on thee alight” That elf-maiden smote with her cap so small, “No more shall priest's benison on thee fall!””

   “A harp can give out but a certain quantity of sound, however heavily it is smitten.”

   “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.”

   “"Right you are!" I cried. "We must believe the other until we prove it false. We can't afford to give up heart now, when we need heart most. The branch was carried down by a river, and we are going to find that river." I smote my open palm with a clenched fist, to emphasize a determination unsupported by hope.”

2. To strike down or kill with godly force.

   “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.”

   “For it is written, I will ſmite the Shepheard, and the Sheep ſhall be ſcattered. […] Becauſe the Shepheard was to be ſmitten, they as Sheepe muſt be ſcattered. The Scope of which place is, to prove Chriſt the true Paſtor of the Flocke, even by his ſmiting and abaſement; and ſo moſt aptly alledged that the Diſciples might have matter of ſtrength and comfort thence where they ſtumbled and offended themſelves.”

3. To injure with divine power.
4. To kill violently; to slay.

   “"She is sitting in the great hall even now to do justice upon those who would have smitten thee and the Lion."”

5. To put to rout in battle; to overthrow by war.
6. To afflict; to chasten; to punish.

   “Let us not mistake the goodness of God, nor imagine that because he smites us, therefore we are forsaken by him.”

   “A country deprived of the Ganges is ſmitten; a family without learning is ſmitten; a woman without a child is ſmitten; a ſacrifice without the Brahman's rights is ſmitten.”

7. (figuratively)To strike with love or infatuation.

   “Bob was smitten with Laura from the first time he saw her.”

   “I was really smitten by the color combination, and soon repainted the entire house.”

   “See what the charms that smite the simple heart, // Not touch'd by Nature, and not reach'd by art.”

   “Thus was written beneath the arms of Arthur of Lesser, duke of Brittany […] Love nonetheless made me feel his dart, / For my person was smitten and inflamed / In its soul by she for whom I bore my shield here: […]”

   “Maybe he was smitten with Clare. And maybe the fact that he didn't want to leave meant it was past time he did.”

noun

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

   “On the other hand , your soft-headed, softhearted sentimentalist, whose heart is in his waistcoat pocket, always at hand for use, he who picks out the pretty parts of modern novels, and the tender parts of affecting tales, never hears of two young people meeting one another, but he begins to think that a smite must follow.”

   “‘That is just what I was about to venture to propose,’returned the doctor with a smite. But the words were hardly uttered, before the smile was struck out of his face and succeeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair, as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below.”

   “Beale, who had not been driving very well, took a smite at his ball and sent it curving far away to the left into a mess of gorse of bramble bushes.”

   “As soon as the second scout fell dead, Catullus slammed the Alliance warrior with holy fire, followed quickly by a mind blast and a smite. Before the enemy knew what hit him, his health was exhausted.”

   “‘Be gone, snake, do not poison my ears with your venom and lies. Your tricks and spells are no good in this place; no demon can hide its putrid face or mask its slithering voice. Your invasion is a smite to Balor, and you will all pay a dear price.’”

name

1. A river in Nottinghamshire, with its headwaters in Leicestershire, England, which joins the River Devon, near Shelton.