smolder

English

Alternative forms

smoulder (chiefly British)

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).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsməʊldə(ɹ)/
(General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈsmoʊldɚ/
- Audio (US): (file)
(Australia) IPA^(key): /ˈsməʉldə(ɹ)/
(New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈsmɐʉldə(ɹ)/
Rhymes: -əʊldə(ɹ)

Verb

smolder (third-person singular simple present smolders, present participle smoldering, simple past and past participle smoldered)

(intransitive, now US) To burn slowly, giving off smoke but with little to no flame.
The remains of the bonfire were left to smolder for hours.
- c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iii:
  Our quiuering Lances ſhaking in the aire,
  And bullets like Ioues dreadfull Thunderbolts,
  Enrolde in flames and fiery ſmoldering miſtes,
  Shall threat the Gods more than Cyclopian warres, […]
- 2003, Christopher Paolini, “Discovery”, in Eragon, page 7:
  Behind him, where the deer had been, smoldered a large circle of grass and trees.
(intransitive, figuratively) To show signs of repressed anger or suppressed mental turmoil or other strong emotion, such as passion.
(intransitive, figuratively) To exist in a suppressed or hidden state.

Derived terms

Translations

to burn slowly with smoke but no flame

Afrikaans: smeul
Belarusian: тлець impf (tljecʹ)
Bulgarian: тлея (bg) (tleja)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 陰燃 / 阴燃 (yīnrán)
Chuvash: ӗн (ĕn)
Czech: doutnat (cs)
Dutch: smeulen (nl)
Esperanto: subbruli, bruleti
Finnish: kyteä (fi)
French: se consumer (fr), couver (fr)
German: schwelen (de), glimmen (de)
Greek: σιγοκαίω (el) (sigokaío), υποκαίω (ypokaío), καίω χωρίς φλόγα (kaío chorís flóga)
Ancient Greek: σμύχω (smúkhō)
Hungarian: parázslik (hu)
Ido: bruletar (io)
Italian: ardere (it)
Japanese: 燻る (ja) (kusuburu)
Kashmiri: وُہُن (vuhun)
Kazakh: бықсу (bıqsuw)
Latvian: gruzdēt (lv)
Māori: ponguru, popō, mohu, torohū
Occitan: sumir, coar (oc)
Polish: tleć impf, tlić się (pl) impf
Portuguese: queimar/arder (sem chama)
Quechua: hapuy
Russian: тлеть (ru) impf (tletʹ)
Scottish Gaelic: cnàmh-loisg
Serbo-Croatian: tinjati (sh) impf
Spanish: arder sin flama
Swedish: pyra (sv)
Ukrainian: тлі́ти (uk) impf (tlíty), же́вріти impf (žévrity)
Volapük: smolön (vo)

to show signs of repressed anger or suppressed mental turmoil or other strong emotion

Finnish: kyteä (fi)
French: ronger son frein (fr)
Greek: σιγοκαίω (el) (sigokaío)
Hungarian: parázslik (hu)
Italian: covare (it)
Polish: gotować się (pl) impf
Swedish: pyra (sv)

to exist in a suppressed or hidden state

Hungarian: parázslik (hu)
Swedish: pyra (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

German: ^{(please verify)} glosen (de)

Noun

smolder (plural smolders)

The act of smoldering or something that smolders.
- 2021 September 16, A. A. Dowd, “Dan Stevens as a dashing robot lover? That computes”, in AV Club‎^[1]:
  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.

Anagrams

Molders, molders, remolds