Dictionary

smouldering en · ADJ

Etymology

Etymology tree English smoulder Proto-Indo-European *-onts Proto-Germanic *-ndz Proto-West Germanic *-andī Old English -ende Middle English -ynge English -ing English smouldering From smoulder + -ing.

Meanings

1. (UK) Burning slowly, producing smoke but no flame.
   • The burnt and bleeding man staggered to his feet, dazed and unbelieving, and asked the startled townspeople who came running whether his fireman and guard were safe. He was kept away from the smouldering crater where his engine had been, and taken to hospital. 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in Rail, number 948, page 43:
   • And if we meet again, some evil chance / Will make the smouldering scandal break and blaze / Before the people, and our lord the King. 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Guinevere”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, pages 229–230:

Forms

Deriveds

smoulderingness · smoulderingly

smouldering en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree English smoulder Proto-Indo-European *-onts Proto-Germanic *-ndz Proto-West Germanic *-andī Old English -ende Middle English -ynge English -ing English smouldering From smoulder + -ing.

Meanings

1. (figuratively, sometimes) The act by which something smoulders; residual heat.
   • the smoulderings of the Thirty Years War

Forms

Relateds

where there's smoke, there's fire

smouldering en · VERB

Etymology

Etymology tree English smoulder Proto-Indo-European *-onts Proto-Germanic *-ndz Proto-West Germanic *-andī Old English -ende Middle English -ynge English -ing English smouldering From smoulder + -ing.

Meanings

1. (form-of, gerund, participle, present) present participle and gerund of smoulder
   form of smoulder

Forms