Smite Definition

smīt

smites, smiting, smitten, smote

verb

smites, smiting, smitten, smote

To inflict a heavy blow on, with or as if with the hand, a tool, or a weapon.

American Heritage

To hit or strike hard.

Webster's New World

To bring into a specified condition by or as by a blow.

To smite someone dead.

Webster's New World

To drive or strike (a weapon, for example) forcefully onto or into something else.

American Heritage

To strike or attack with powerful or disastrous effect.

Smitten by the flu.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Origin of Smite

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 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌼𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (bismeitan).

From Wiktionary
Middle English smiten from Old English smītan to smear

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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