Smite
Pronunciation
- enPR: smīt, IPA: /smaɪt/
- Rhymes: -aɪt
Origin
From Middle English smiten, from Old English smÄ«tan ("to daub, smear, smudge; soil, defile, pollute"), from Proto-Germanic *smÄ«tanÄ… ("to throw"), from Proto-Indo-European *smeyd- ("to smear, whisk, strike, rub"). Cognate with Saterland Frisian smieta ("to throw, toss"), West Frisian smite ("to throw"), Low German smieten ("to throw, chuck, toss"), Dutch smijten ("to fling, hurl, throw"), Middle Low German besmitten ("to soil, sully"), German schmeißen ("to fling, throw"), Danish smide ("to throw"), Gothic ðŒ±ðŒ¹ðƒðŒ¼ðŒ´ðŒ¹ð„ðŒ°ðŒ½.
Full definition of smite
Verb
- (archaic) To hit.
- Bible, Matthew v. 39Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
- 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot (novel) Chapter IV"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." I smote my open palm with a clenched fist, to emphasize a determination unsupported by hope.
- To strike down or kill with godly force.
- To injure with divine power.
- To put to rout in battle; to overthrow by war.
- To afflict; to chasten; to punish.
- WakeLet us not mistake God's goodness, nor imagine, because he smites us, that we are forsaken by him.
- (figuratively, now only in passive) To strike with love or infatuation.Bob was smitten with Laura from the first time he saw her.
- Alexander Popethe charms that smite the simple heart