smoulder

smoulder

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsməʊldə(ɹ)/

Verb

smoulder (third-person singular simple present smoulders, present participle smouldering, simple past and past participle smouldered)

1. (intransitive, chiefly Britain) Alternative form of smolder
   • 1895 May 7, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, chapter XI, in The Time Machine: An Invention, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, OCLC 4701980:

     Lightning may blast and blacken, but it rarely gives rise to widespread fire. Decaying vegetation may occasionally smoulder with the heat of its fermentation, but this again rarely results in flames.

2. (transitive) To smother; to suffocate; to choke.
   • 1577, Raphael Holinshed, Historie of England:

     They preassed forward vnder their ensignes, bearing downe such as stoode in their way, and with their owne fire smouldered and burnt them to ashes

   • 1876, Rev. J. Bailey, “Carisbrooke Castle, Isle of Wight”, in The Christian messenger, volume 12, page 35:

     Time Which lays its hand on battlements and towers, And smoulders them all to dust has committed its ravages upon this ancient castle.

   • 1963, India. Parliament. Lok Sabha, Lok Sabha Debates, page 7015:

     Individual grievance will continue to smoulder him.

   • 2015, Gopal Das. Sonkia, 110 Lessions to Live Life Blooming:

     Before kindling the fire of jealousy remember it will consume others afterwards but first it will fill your heart and soul with a suffocating bitter smoke and smoulder every pore of your body.

   • 2019, Muhammed Haron, Connecting South-South Communities, page 287:

     In any event Scheurs (1997: 188) acknowledged that the Stockholm conference recognized and respected sovereignty but also mentioned that it sought to restrict it and not smoulder it.

Noun

smoulder

1. (obsolete) smoke; smother
   • 1573, George Gascoigne, A Hundreth Sundry Flowres

     The smoulder stops our nose with stench.

2. Alternative form of smolder.
   • 1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The White Company:

     Dry and wormeaten, a spark upon them became a smoulder, and a smoulder a blaze.

   • 2016, K. M. Frontain, The Disposition of Ashes:

     The smoulder in his eyes dimmed, and he winced, half bending in agony.

3. A disease of narcissus and related flowers caused by the fungus Botrytis narcissicola, and characterized by dark brown lesions on the leaves.
   • 2002, Gordon R Hanks, Narcissus and Daffodil: The Genus Narcissus, page 116:

     When grown as ornamentals it is important to inspect crops and physically remove rogue cultivars and other off-types, but whatever narcissus are grown for they should be inspected for signs of stem nematod lesions ('spickels'), disease 'primaries' (such as smoulder) and virus symptoms.

Anagrams

• R-modules, moulders, remoulds