Picture a thick layer coming down over the top of something and staying there. A pillow over a face, a wet towel over a pan of flames, cheese sauce over a plate of fries, a hand over your own mouth, a goalkeeper's body over a ball. The layer does not hit or break anything. It just sits on top, close and heavy, and whatever is underneath cannot get out and cannot get air. Every use of smother is that same layer, and what changes is only what is underneath: a flame, a laugh, a person, a report, a shot on goal.
The packet's source traces smother to Old English smorian, to suffocate or choke, with the noun smorþor meaning literally that which suffocates, and links it to the smoke family. The airless picture is the old one; the thick-covering uses sit comfortably beside it.
本包的來源資料把 smother 追到古英語 smorian（悶住、使窒息），名詞 smorþor 字面是「會把人悶住的東西」，並和 smoke 連在一起。所以「沒有空氣」這張畫面是比較老的一支。今天最常見的「蓋滿食物」用法就靠在它旁邊，兩者共用同一層厚厚的覆蓋。
Wiktionary entries supplied in this packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1191250977 and :1191290491)
From the picture
蓋滿表面：厚到看不見底下
同一層厚厚的東西壓上去，只是這次底下不是會呼吸的東西，所以沒有壞事發生，只剩下「蓋滿」這個效果。醬汁蓋滿薯條、落葉蓋滿小路，看不見底下就是重點。這一格是今天最常用的用法，也是學習者最先會遇到的。
verb · B2
To cover the whole surface of something with a thick layer of something else, so that you can hardly see what is underneath. It is used most about food, and it often carries the feeling that this is more than anyone needs.
厚厚蓋滿
蓋住不讓它出來：笑聲、消息、反對
把那一層蓋在「想跑出來的東西」上面。想笑的笑、想傳開的消息、想講話的人，都被壓在底下。共同點是東西還在，只是出不來。這也是為什麼這幾格都帶一點壓抑、憋著的感覺。
verb · B2
To hold a feeling or a small action inside so that other people do not see or hear it, such as a laugh, a giggle, a yawn or a cry.
忍住（笑、呵欠）
蓋在人身上：太多的愛與親吻
這一格蓋上去的是關心和親吻。奇妙的地方在於，同一張畫面可以是甜的也可以是重的。滿臉的親吻讓人開心，貼身的關心讓人喘不過氣，差別只在被蓋住的人想不想要。
verb · B2
To give someone so much love, attention or care that they feel they have no space of their own left, and stop being happy.
愛得讓人喘不過氣
球場上貼上去封住
把那一層換成防守球員的身體或雙手，速度加快，就是球場上的 smother。守門員壓在球上、防守者的手蓋在踢球的腳前、拳擊手貼得太近讓對方揮不動，都是同一個想法：近到沒有空間。這是轉播用語，日常講擋球會說 block。
verb · C1
In sports, to stop a shot, a kick or a punch by getting so close to it that the ball or the hand has no room to travel.
封阻、貼死
verb · C1
To kill a person or animal by holding something over their face so that they cannot breathe.
悶死
verb · B2
To make a fire stop burning by covering it so that air cannot reach the flames.
悶熄（火）
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
smotherverb詞源 1/ˈsməðər/
To suffocate; stifle; obstruct, more or less completely, the respiration of something or someone.
To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by covering, overlaying, or otherwise excluding the air.
To reduce to a low degree of vigor or activity; suppress or do away with; extinguish
cookingfoodlifestyleTo cook in a close dish.
To daub or smear.
To be suffocated.
To breathe with great difficulty by reason of smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or the like.
to burn very slowly for want of air; smolder.
to perish, grow feeble, or decline, by suppression or concealment; be stifled; be suppressed or concealed.
ball-gamesgameshobbiesTo get in the way of a kick of the ball.
To get in the way of a kick of the ball, preventing it going very far. When a player is kicking the ball, an opponent who is close enough will reach out with his hands and arms to get over the top of it, so the ball hits his hands after leaving the kicker's boot, dribbling away.
boxinggovernmenthobbiesTo prevent the development of an opponent's attack by one's arm positioning.
smothernoun詞源 2/ˈsməðər/
That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
datedThat which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
datedThat which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
That which smothers or appears to smother, particularly
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。