smoke

Etymology 1

From Middle English smoke, from Old English smoca (“smoke”), probably a derivative of the verb (see below). Related to Dutch smook (“smoke”), Middle Low German smôk (“smoke”), dialectal German Schmauch (“smoke”).

noun

1. (uncountable) The visible vapor/vapour, gases, and fine particles given off by burning or smoldering material.
   Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles. 2013-06-29, “Unspontaneous combustion”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 29
2. (colloquial, countable) A cigarette.
   2019, Idles, "Never Fight a Man With a Perm", Joy as an Act of Resistance. I said I've got a penchant for smokes and kicking douches in the mouth / Sadly for you my last cigarette's gone out
   Can I bum a smoke off you?; I need to go buy some smokes.
3. (colloquial, uncountable) Anything to smoke (e.g. cigarettes, marijuana, etc.)
   Hey, you got some smoke?
   ERCS Guard: Got a smoke? We're all out. 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Noveria
4. (colloquial, countable, never plural) An instance of smoking a cigarette, cigar, etc.; the duration of this act.
   I'm going out for a smoke.
5. (uncountable, figurative) A fleeting illusion; something insubstantial, evanescent, unreal, transitory, or without result.
   The excitement behind the new candidate proved to be smoke.
   I fed her a lot of smoke about a sheep station outside Adelaide and a big property in the high street with a glass front and ‘Thomas’ in lights. She didn’t believe me. 1974, John le Carré, chapter 6, in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, New York: Knopf, page 44
6. (uncountable, figurative) Something used to obscure or conceal; an obscuring condition; see also smoke and mirrors.
   The smoke of controversy.
7. (uncountable) A light grey colour/color tinted with blue.
   smoke:
8. (uncountable, slang) Bother; problems; hassle.
   You better not be giving me no smoke.
9. (military, uncountable) A particulate of solid or liquid particles dispersed into the air on the battlefield to degrade enemy ground or for aerial observation. Smoke has many uses--screening smoke, signaling smoke, smoke curtain, smoke haze, and smoke deception. Thus it is an artificial aerosol.
10. (baseball, slang) A fastball.
11. (countable) A distinct column of smoke, such as indicating a burning area or fire.
    Should the commander of one column desire to communicate with the other, he raises three smokes simultaneously, which, if seen by the other party, should be responded to in the same manner. 1860, Randolph Barnes Marcy, The Prairie and Overland Traveller, page 203
    […] and we could not discern any settlement or any people, but we did see two smokes up-river in some thick groves of oak and cork and willows and other high trees, of a good thickness, resembling ash trees. 1923, California Historical Society Quarterly, volume 2, page 152
    In the evening haze, even the Calton Gaol took on something of the savage grandeur of a Doré drawing, and this was by no means spoilt by the rising smokes of North British engines in the ravine below. 1941 January, C. Hamilton Ellis, “The Scottish Station”, in Railway Magazine, page 1
    During the night, a severe lightning storm passed over this area and in the morning the towerman reported two smokes separated by about two miles distance. 1957, Sylva: The Lands and Forests Review, volumes 13-14, page 43
    The aerial reconnaissance did see active flame on heavy fuels (logs) and fine fuels (duff/understory), and several smokes. 15 May 2021, “Guadalupe Mountains National Park Temporarily Closes Backcountry Campsites due to Dog Fire”, in Guadalupe Mountains National Park News Releases

Etymology 2

From Middle English smoken, from Old English smocian (“to smoke, emit smoke; fumigate”), from Proto-West Germanic *smokōn, from Proto-Germanic *smukōną (“to smoke”), ablaut derivative of Proto-Germanic *smaukaną (“to smoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mewg- (“to smoke”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian smookje (“to smoke”), West Frisian smoke (“to smoke”), Low German smöken (“to smoke”), German Low German smoken (“to smoke”). Related also to Old English smēocan (“to smoke, emit smoke; fumigate”), Bavarian schmuckelen (“to smell bad, reek”).

verb

1. (transitive) To inhale and exhale the smoke from a burning cigarette, cigar, pipe, etc.
   He's smoking his pipe. Smoking a pipe has gone out of fashion.
2. (intransitive) To inhale and exhale tobacco smoke.
   Do you smoke?
3. (intransitive) To give off smoke.
   My old truck was still smoking even after the repairs.
   Hard by a cottage chimney smokes. 1645, John Milton, L'Allegro
   1. (intransitive) Of a fire in a fireplace: to emit smoke outward instead of up the chimney, owing to imperfect draught.
4. (transitive) To preserve or prepare (food) for consumption by treating with smoke.
   You'll need to smoke the meat for several hours.
5. (transitive) To dry or medicate by smoke.
   After opening one of the hives from the back, he smoked the bees to calm them and to drive the queen toward the front of the hive. 2019, Thomas D. Seeley, The Lives of Bees: The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild, page 64
6. (transitive, obsolete) To fill or scent with smoke; hence, to fill with incense; to perfume.
7. (transitive, obsolete) To make unclear or blurry.
   Smoke your bits of glass, Ye loyal Swine, or her transfiguration Will blind your wondering eyes. 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts
8. (intransitive, slang, chiefly as present participle) To perform (e.g. music) energetically or skillfully.
   The horn section was really smokin' on that last tune.
9. (slang) To beat someone at something.
   Super Macho Man: 'I DON'T SMOKE... BUT TONIGHT I'M GONNA SMOKE YOU!' 1987, Punch-Out!!, Nintendo, published 1990, Nintendo Entertainment System, level/area: Super Macho Man
   We smoked them at rugby.
10. (transitive, slang) To kill, especially with a gun.
    He got smoked by the mob.
    Ordnancemen stenciled bombs with “greetings” on behalf of friends and loved ones back home or slogans playing on beer and cigarette advertisements, like “To Muammar: For all you do, this bomb's for you” or “I'd fly 10,000 miles to smoke a camel.” 1993, Joseph T. Stanik, "Swift and Effective Retribution": The U.S. Sixth Fleet and the Confrontation with Qaddafi (The U.S. Navy in the Modern World Series; 3), Naval Historical Center
11. (transitive, slang, obsolete) To thrash; to beat.
12. (obsolete, transitive) To smell out; to hunt out; to find out; to detect.
13. (slang, obsolete, transitive) To ridicule to the face; to mock.
14. To burn; to be kindled; to rage.
15. To raise a dust or smoke by rapid motion.
16. To suffer severely; to be punished.
17. (transitive, US military slang) To punish (a person) for a minor offense by excessive physical exercise.
18. (transitive) To cover (a key blank) with soot or carbon to aid in seeing the marks made by impressioning.