English → Latin
“smother” in Latin
suffōcōto choke, stifle, strangle, suffocate, drownanimaair, breath; life, ghost; soulstrangulōto strangle, throttle; to choke, suffocate, smother; to torment, tortureexstinguōto quench, extinguish, put out; to destroy, kill, slay, abolishauferōto take or snatch away; take by force, remove, take away violently, abduct, rob, steal, snatch, confiscate; to lay asidetollōto raise, lift up, elevate; to remove, take away, steal, rob; to destroy, eliminate, annul
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
smother
PROP., To suffocate, suffocare: animam or spiritum intercludere: strangulare (to strangle). To smother anybody by throwing a number of clothes over him, opprimere aliquem injectu multae vestis (Tac.): to smother anybody with blankets, injectis lodicibus in caput faucesque spiritum intercludere (after Liv., 40, 24, where it is injectis tapetibus): to smother one’s self by putting one’s pocket handkerchief into one’s mouth, or by stopping up one’s mouth with a pocket handkerchief, sudario coartatis ore et faucibus spiritum intercludere: to be smothered, suffocari; spiritu intercluso exstingui: to be smothered by anything, aliqua re suffocari.
ImPROP., To put down or out, exstinguere: restingugre (e.g., offire, etc.; then to quell, to suppress; e.g., an insurrection, etc.): auferre: tollere (to stifle, figuratively; e.g., all sense of honor). To smother in the very birth, nascens aliquid opprimere. Vid: also, CONCEAL.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for smother?
- The usual Latin words for “smother” are suffōcō, anima, strangulō; also exstinguō, auferō, tollō. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.