"smothered" - Word of the Day from the OED

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smothered, ppl. a.

SECOND EDITION 1989

(smd)  [f. SMOTHER v.] 

    1. Of fire, flame, etc.: Not allowed to burn freely or break out. Also fig.

1594 WILLOBIE Avisa xlv. 17 The smothered flame, too closely pent, Burnes more extreame for want of vent. 1697 DRYDEN Virg. Past. VIII. 150 Break out ye smother'd Fires, and kindle smother'd Love. 1734 R. ERSKINE Gospel Sonn. (1782) 252 My praise is now a smotherd fire. 1837 P. KEITH Bot. Lex. 217 That the mass..may be still kept burning with a smothered flame.

    2. a. Suppressed, concealed, restrained, kept down or under in some manner.

1607 EARL STIRLING J. Cæsar III. ii, Whil'st smothred sorrow by a habite smokes. 1645 E. PAGITT Heresiogr. (1661) 75 Their known uncleanness, smother'd mischiefs [etc.]. 1728 ELIZA HEYWOOD tr Mme. de Gomez's Belle A. (1732) II. 229 Angry with himself, that he had so long concealed the smother'd Anguish. 1752 YOUNG Brothers I. i, I've partly heard Her smother'd story. 1807 CRABBE Par. Reg. II. 552 While smother'd envy rises in the breast. 1856 FROUDE Hist. Eng. (1858) I. 222 They must have heard something of the growls of smothered anger.

    b. smothered mate (see quot. 1847). See also MATE n.¹ b.

1804 Introd. Hist. & Study of Chess v. 82 Smothered mate is when the king is so surrounded by his own friends that he cannot move out of check for them; and this mate is generally given by the knight. 1822 W. LEWIS Chess 24 The Knight is the only piece that can give a smothered mate. 1847 STAUNTON Chess-Player's Handbk. 25 Smothered mate, a checkmate which is sometimes given by the Knight when the adverse King is hemmed in, or smothered, by his own forces.

    3. Cooked in a close vessel.

1748 in Omond Arniston Mem. (1887) 108 Dinner... Roast goose. Smothered rabbits. 1809 MALKIN Gil Blas X. iii. 10 A smothered rabbit on one side, and a fricasseed capon on the other. 1877 E. S. DALLAS Kettner's Book of Table 369 Smothered Rabbit. This is the name given in England to boiled rabbit. It is smothered with a white onion sauce. 1923 Mrs. Beeton's Bk. Househ. Managem. 582 (heading) Chicken, Smothered (Poulet étuvé). 1948 Good Housek. Cookery Bk. II. 237 Smothered tongues... Cook preferably in a double saucepan or in a basin in a steamer. 1975 tr. Melchior's Sleeper Agent (1976) III. 290 A juicy steak heaped with smothered onions.

    4. Of sound: Suppressed, rendered indistinct.

1810 SOUTHEY Kehama XI. x, A sound, like smother'd thunder, Was heard. 1823 W. PRICE Gram. 3 Oriental Langs. Pref. p. v, The Persians..seldom give the smothered sound of u to the short vowels. 1862 BURTON Book Hunter I. 9 It is told in a smothered whisper..to the horrified family.

    5. Thickly or densely covered up.

1902 ‘LINESMAN’ Words Eyewitness 89 The red tongue of flame which told that the smothered piece was countering the blow.

    Hence smotheredly adv.

1656 DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE Nature's Pictures 117 She perceived his Amorous Humour not to quench, but rather to burn, though smotheredly.

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