▪ I. smoor, n. Sc.
(smur)
[f. next.]
A stifling or suffocating atmosphere, smoke, etc.; smother.
| 1894 Crockett Raiders xiii. 124 Our cave..was full of the white smoor of gunpowder smoke. 1895 ― Men of Mosshags 106 In the smoor of the snow. |
▪ II. smoor, v. Sc. and north. dial.
(smur)
Forms: 6, 9 smure, 6 smuyr, smuir(e; 6–7 smoore, 6–9 smoor, etc.
[perh. ad. MDu. or MLG. smōren (Du. smoren, LG. smoren, smören; G. schmoren, G. dial. schmoeren, schmuren), = OE. smorian smore v. The vowel is not a normal native variant of the o of smorian.]
To smother, in various senses.
1. intr. To undergo smothering (lit. or fig.).
| c 1470 Gol. & Gaw. 1204 It war syn, but recure, The knightis honour suld smure, That did me this honoure. 1550 Lyndesay Sqr. Meldrum 45 That his hie honour suld not smure, Considering quhat he did indure. 1791 Burns Tam O'Shanter 90 By this time he was cross the ford, Whare, in the snaw, the chapman smoor'd. |
2. trans. a. fig. or transf. To conceal or hide; to suppress; to deaden, stupefy, etc.
| 1513 Douglas æneid xi. Prol. 48 He..nevyr dar vndertak a douchty deyd, Bot doith all curage and all manheid smuyr. 1567 Satir. Poems Reform. iv. 188 Hurt not ȝour honouris, the samin to smuire. 1636 Montgomerie's Cherrie & Slae (Wreittoun) 261 But ay the more I shoope to smoor'de The bolder it brake out. 1718 Ramsay Christ's Kirk Gr. iii. xxiii, They drank, 'Till a' their sense was smoor'd. 1792 Burns Duncan Gray cam' here to woo v, Swelling pity smoored his wrath. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle xii, Ye maun smoor my first born puir conscience atween ye. |
b. To smother, stifle, suffocate; esp. to deprive of life by suffocation.
| 1535 Coverdale 1 Kings iii. 19 This womans sonne died in the nighte (for she smoored him in the slepe). 1612 Webster White Devil v. iv, Ile smoore some of them. 1656 in W. Ross Pastoral Wk. in Covenanting Times (1887) 73 James Tailzor laitlie haid all his horses smoored. 1725 Ramsay Gentle Sheph. i. i, Nine braw nowt were smoor'd. 1787 Burns Brigs of Ayr 33 The bees..Are doom'd by Man,..The death o' devils, smoor'd wi' brimstone reek. a 1800– in many northern dial. glossaries. 1832 R. Surtees in G. Taylor Mem. (Surtees) 282 Nic. Ward was smoor'd in his father's own draw well. 1881 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 530 The sheep had been smoored by scores in the drifts. |
c. To put out or extinguish (a light or fire). Also in fig. context.
| 1721 Ramsay Lucky Spence xv, The quacks wha that fire smoors, And puts nae out. 1808 Jamieson s.v. Smore, Smure the candle, put it out. 1903 Q. Rev. July 25 When kindling or ‘smooring’ a fire. |