smother

verb

1. (transitive)To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.

   “He smothered her by pressing his hand over her mouth.”

   “But I am Pestilence;—hither and thither I flit about, that I may slay and smother;— All lips which I have kissed must surely wither, But Death’s—if thou art he, we’ll go to work together!”

   “[…] he dashes to his destination at such a speed that when he stops the horse half smothers him in a cloud of steam. "Unbear him half a moment to freshen him up, and I'll be back."”

   “The awfulest thing was the silence; there wasn't a sound but the screaking of the saddles, the measured tramplings, and the sneezing of the horses, afflicted by the smothering dust-clouds which they kicked up.”

2. (transitive)To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air.

   “to smother a fire with ashes”

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

   “The committee's report was smothered.”

4. (transitive)To cook in a close dish.

   “beefsteak smothered with onions”

5. (transitive)To daub or smear.

   “And I keep quite a lot of it around, especially chocolate-covered almonds and Trader Joes minipretzels smothered in dark chocolate.”

6. (intransitive)To be suffocated.

   “She is smothered by the rope.”

7. (intransitive)To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like.
8. (intransitive)to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder.
9. (figuratively, intransitive)to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
10. To get in the way of a kick of the ball.

    “Emmanuel Adebayor's touch proved a fraction heavy as he guided Van der Vaart's exquisite long ball round John Ruddy, before the goalkeeper did well to smother Bale's shot from Modric's weighted pass.”

11. 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.
12. To prevent the development of an opponent's attack by one's arm positioning.

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
2. (countable, uncountable)That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly

   “Thus must I from the smoke into the smother […]”

3. (countable, dated, uncountable)That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly

   “not to keep their suspicions in smother”

4. (countable, dated, uncountable)That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly

   “Thus must I from the smoke into the smother, / From tyrant duke unto tyrant brother.”

   “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. (countable, uncountable)That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly