smolder

Etymology

From Middle English smolderen (“to suffocate, stifle”), from Middle English smolder (“smoke, smoky vapour”), ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *smolōn (“to burn, glow, fume, smoulder”). Related to Proto-West Germanic *smallijan (> English smell).

verb

1. (intransitive, now US) To burn with no flame and little smoke.
   The remains of the bonfire were left to smolder for hours.
2. (intransitive, figurative) To show signs of repressed anger or suppressed mental turmoil or other strong emotion, such as passion.
3. (intransitive, figurative) To exist in a suppressed or hidden state.

noun

1. The act of smoldering or something that smolders.
   And she’s got a great scene partner in Stevens, refining his star power into a just slightly, almost imperceptibly mechanical approximation of Don Juan smolder. He lets us admire the interface and still see the code ticking away underneath it. 2021-9-16, A. A. Dowd, “Dan Stevens as a dashing robot lover? That computes”, in AV Club