FromMiddle Englishsmiten, fromOld Englishsmītan(“to daub, smear, smudge; soil, defile, pollute”), fromProto-West Germanic*smītan, fromProto-Germanic*smītaną(“to sling; throw; smear”), fromProto-Indo-European*smeyd-(“to smear, whisk, strike, rub”).
Cognate withSaterland Frisiansmiete(“to throw, toss”),West Frisiansmite(“to throw”),Dutchsmijten(“to fling, hurl, throw”),German Low Germansmieten(“to throw, chuck, toss”),Germanschmeißen(“to fling, throw”),Danishsmide(“to throw”),Swedishsmita(“to run off (to)”),Gothic𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌼𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽(bismeitan,“to besmear, anoint”).
smite (third-person singular simple presentsmites,present participlesmiting,simple pastsmoteorsmitedor(obsolete)smit,past participlesmittenorsmoteorsmitedor(obsolete)smit)
- (archaic) Tohit; tostrike.
1847 September 11,William J. Thoms, “The Folk-lore of Shakespeare”, inThe Athenaeum, London, page958, column 1:That elf-maidensmote with her hand so white,
“Sorrow and sickness on thee alight”
That elf-maidensmote with her cap so small,
“No more shall priest's benison on thee fall!”
1906,Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, inChippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co.,→OCLC,page01:It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. […]. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower gunssmote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.
1918,Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 4, inThe Land That Time Forgot, Chicago, Ill.:A. C. McClurg & Co., published1924,→OCLC:"Right you are!" I cried. "We must believe the other until we prove it false. We can't afford to give up heart now, when we need heart most. The branch was carried down by a river, and we are going to find that river." Ismote my open palm with a clenched fist, to emphasize a determination unsupported by hope.
1966, “Iron Man (theme song)”,Jacques Urbont (lyrics) (The Marvel Super Heroes (television series)):Tony Stark makes you feel
He’s a cool exec with a heart of steel.
As Iron Man, all jets ablaze,
He’s fighting andsmiting with repulsor rays!
Amazing armor! That’s Iron Man!
A blazing power! That’s Iron Man!
- Tostrike down orkill withgodlyforce.
1653,Thomas Taylor, “Peters Repentance. Marke 14.27.”, inThe Works of that Faithful Servant of Jesus Christ, Dr. Thom. Taylor, Sometimes Minister of the Gospel in Aldermanbury, London. Not Hitherto Published, (though Earnestly Desired by the Very Many Experimental Christians,) because the Iniquity of Those Times could not Bear such Burning and Shining Light, as is here Handed Forth in these Several Treatises Following.[...], London: Printed by T. R. & E. M. for John Bartlet the elder and John Bartlet the younger, and are to be sold at the Golden Cup near Austins gate in the new Building,→OCLC,page 6:For it is written, I willſmite the Shepheard, and the Sheep ſhall be ſcattered.[…] Becauſe the Shepheard was to beſmitten, they as Sheepe muſt beſcattered. The Scope of which place is, to prove Chriſt the true Paſtor of the Flocke, even by hisſmiting and abaſement; and ſo moſt aptly alledged that the Diſciples might have matter of ſtrength and comfort thence where they ſtumbled and offended themſelves.
- Toinjure withdivinepower.
1746,Lodowick[e] Muggleton, “CHAP. XXV [of theBook of Revelation].”, inTrue Interpretation of All the Chief Texts, and Mysterious Sayings and Visions Opened, of the Whole Book of the Revelation of St. John. Whereby is Unfolded, and Plainly Declared, those Wonderful Deep Mysteries and Visions Interpreted, Concerning the True God, and Alpha and Omega. With Variety of other Heavenly Secrets, which Have Never Been Pen'd, Nor Revel'd to Any Man since the Creation of the World to this Day, until Now[1], London: First Printed for the Author, in the Year 1665. And now Re-printed by Subscription,→OCLC:VERSE 12.And the fourth angel ſounded, and the third part of the ſun wasſmitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the ſtars, ſo as the third part of them was darkened, and the day ſhone not for a third part of it, and the night likewiſe.[…] [T]his Jeſus which ſignifies the ſun, wasſmitten with persecution and ſufferings in the time of his miniſtry, that there could but a third part of his heavenly light ſhine upon the people of the Jews, and happy were thoſe that this light did ſhine upon.
- Tokillviolently; toslay.
- To put torout inbattle; tooverthrow bywar.
2021 January 20, Drachinifel, 5:49 from the start, inType 93 Long Lance Torpedo - Long Range Hole Poking Device[2], archived fromthe original on1 November 2022:[…]and it turned out, if you just dumped pure oxygen and kerosene into the combustion chamber, the torpedowould travel at fairly-high speed... just instantaneously in all directions at once, disassembling itself, and any nearby people, withconsiderable enthusiasm. Explaining that this was entirely-unacceptable behavior for a torpedo that was designed tosmite the Emperor's enemies didn't really tend to work out that well, since they hadn't yet invented the Machine Spirit, and, in any case, working outwhich bit of the torpedo you were supposed to talk to, or possiblyscrape off the wall, was somewhat difficult once it had decided to launch a several-hundred-meter search into the realm of the honorable ancestors.
- Toafflict; tochasten; topunish.
1688,William Wake,Preparation for Death:Let us not mistake the goodness of God, nor imagine that because hesmites us, therefore we are forsaken by him.
1787 December,Charles Wilkins, “The Heetopades of Veeshnoo-Sarma. Translated from the Sanskreet Language. By Charles Wilkins.”, inThe Edinburgh Magazine, or Literary Miscellany, volume VI, number36, Edinburgh: Printed for J. Sibbald: and sold byJ[ohn] Murray, London,→OCLC,page383:A country deprived of the Ganges isſmitten; a family without learning isſmitten; a woman without a child isſmitten; a ſacrifice without the Brahman's rights isſmitten.
- (figuratively, now only in passive) Tostrike withlove orinfatuation.
Bob wassmitten with Laura from the first time he saw her.
I was reallysmitten by the color combination, and soon repainted the entire house.
1757,Alexander Pope,The Works of Alexander Pope: Esq., with His Last Corrections, Additions, and Improvements, volume 5, London: Printed for A. Millar; J. and R. Tonson; H. Lintot; and C. Bathurst.,page222:See what the charms thatsmite the simple heart, // Not touch'd by Nature, and not reach'd by art.
2001,René of Anjou, edited by Stephanie Viereck Gibbs and Kathryn Karczewska,The Book of the Love-smitten Heart, New York, N.Y.; London:Routledge,→ISBN, page159:Thus was written beneath the arms of Arthur of Lesser,duke of Brittany[…] Love nonetheless made me feel his dart, / For my person wassmitten and inflamed / In its soul by she for whom I bore my shield here:[…]
2014,Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Denise Hunter, Diann Hunt,The Smitten Collection: Smitten, Secretly Smitten, and Smitten Book Club,Thomas Nelson Inc.,→ISBN:Maybe he wassmittenwith Clare. And maybe the fact that he didn't want to leave meant it was past time he did.
to hit
- Arabic:ضَرَبَ (ar)(ḍaraba)
- Bulgarian:удрям (bg)(udrjam),блъскам (bg)(blǎskam)
- Czech:uhodit (cs) pf,udeřit (cs) pf,zasáhnout (cs) pf,omráčit pf
- Finnish:iskeä (fi),lyödä (fi)
- French:frapper (fr)
- Galician:bater (gl),bourar (gl),golpear (gl),mallar (gl),pegar (gl),percutir (gl),petar (gl),sacudir (gl),zoscar
- German:schlagen (de)
- Greek:
- Ancient Greek:πλήσσω(plḗssō)
- Hungarian:sújt (hu)
- Italian:colpire (it)
- Occitan:tustar (oc),picar (oc)
- Polish:mach (pl) m,raz (pl) m
- Portuguese:golpear (pt),bater (pt)
- Russian:карать (ru)(karatʹ)
- Scottish Gaelic:buail
- Slovak:udrieť,zasiahnuť,trafiť
- Spanish:golpear (es),cascar (es)
- Turkish:vurmak (tr),çarpmak (tr)
|
to strike down or kill with godly force
to strike with love or infatuation
smite (pluralsmites)
- (archaic, rare) Aheavystrike with aweapon,tool, or thehand.
1844,The Mysterious Man. A Novel. By the Author of Ben Bradshawe; the Man Without a Head [i.e. Frederick Chamier[3], T. C. Newby, page192:On the other hand , your soft-headed, softhearted sentimentalist, whose heart is in his waistcoat pocket, always at hand for use, he who picks out the pretty parts of modern novels, and the tender parts of affecting tales, never hears of two young people meeting one another, but he begins to think that asmite must follow.
1886, Robert Louis Stevenson,The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll[4], Doubleday,→ISBN, page45:‘That is just what I was about to venture to propose,’returned the doctor with asmite. But the words were hardly uttered, before the smile was struck out of his face and succeeded by an expression of such abject terror and despair, as froze the very blood of the two gentlemen below.
2007, Rupert Penny,Policeman's Holiday[5], Ramble House,→ISBN, page82:Beale, who had not been driving very well, took asmite at his ball and sent it curving far away to the left into a mess of gorse of bramble bushes.
- EMT-Is,Metis,stime,Times,times,metis,setim,MSTie,items,Métis,mites,et sim.,e-stim,emits,i-stem,métis,STEMI,METIs
FromProto-Germanic*smītaną.
smite
- (Mooring) tothrow
Conjugation of
smite (
Mooring dialect)
smīte
- inflection ofsmītan:
- first-personsingularpresentindicative
- singularpresentsubjunctive
smite
- inflection ofsmītan:
- second-personsingularpreteriteindicative
- singularpreteritesubjunctive
FromOld Frisiansmīta, fromProto-West Germanic*smītan, fromProto-Indo-European*smeyd-.
smite
- tothrow
- tofling
