smother v.

c. 1400, a variant or contraction of smorther "suffocate with smoke" (c. 1200, implied in smorthering "producing noxious smoke"), from smorthre (n.) "dense, suffocating smoke, suffocating vapor" (late 12c.), which is from a suffixed form of the source of Middle English smoren (v.), Old English smorian "suffocate, choke, strangle, stifle." This is cognate with Middle Dutch smoren, German schmoren "stew, swelter;" the group is possibly connected to smolder.

The meaning "kill by suffocation in any manner, stifle the respiration of" is from 1540s; the sense of "extinguish or deaden a fire by covering it" is from 1590s. Hence the general and figurative sense of "stifle, repress," recorded from 1570s. The meaning "cover thickly (with some substance)" is from 1590s. To smother up "wrap up so as to seem or feel smothered" is from 1580s. Related: Smothered; smothering. Smotheration "act or state of being smothered" (1826) was a New England word.