smolder
UK /ˈsməʊldə(ɹ)/ · US /ˈsmoʊldɚ/ verb, noun
Forms smolders smoldering smoldered smoulder
- verb (intransitive, now US) To burn slowly, giving off smoke but with little to no flame. “The remains of the bonfire were left to smolder for hours.”
- verb (intransitive, figuratively) To show signs of repressed anger or suppressed mental turmoil or other strong emotion, such as passion.
- verb (intransitive, figuratively) To exist in a suppressed or hidden state.
- noun The act of smoldering or something that smolders.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English smolderen (“to suffocate, stifle”), from Middle English smolder (“smoke, smoky vapour”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *smolōn (“to burn, glow, fume, smoulder”). Related to Proto-West Germanic *smallijan (> English smell).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To burn and smoke without flame; to waste away by a slow and supressed combustion.
- verb To exist in a state of suppressed or smothered activity; to burn inwardly; as, a smoldering feud.
- verb To smother; to suffocate; to choke. [Obs.] Holinshed.
- noun Smoke; smother. [Obs.]
Etymology [OE. smolderen; cf. Prov. G. smölen, smelen, D. smeulen. Cf. Smell.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “smolder”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details