smoking
verbadjectivenouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈsməʊkɪŋ//
- United States//ˈsmoʊkɪŋ//
Giving off smoke.
verb
- 1
Also a form of smokepresent participle and gerund of smoke
Etymology
From Middle English smokynge, smokiende, from Old English smociende (“smoking”), from Proto-Germanic *smukōndz (“emitting smoke, smoking”), equivalent to smoke + -ing.
adjective
- 1
Giving off smoke.
Yet had the whole train and all its bombs gone, had the engine crew merely jumped from the train and run as simple self-preservation would have suggested, or unhitched just the engine to make their escape faster, the whole town would have gone and most of the people with it, leaving just a smoking wasteland. Hundreds would have died.
- 2
slangSexually attractive, usually referring to a woman.
That woman is smoking!
- 3
slangShowing great skill or talent.
The band put on a smoking performance.
noun
- 1
The act or process of emitting smoke.
- 2
The burning and inhalation of any drug, including tobacco, cannabis, cocaine, and others.
- 3
The burning and inhalation of any drug, including tobacco, cannabis, cocaine, and others. The burning and inhalation of tobacco.
Smoking can lead to lung cancer.
- 4
The burning and inhalation of any drug, including tobacco, cannabis, cocaine, and others. The burning and inhalation of tobacco. The burning and inhalation of cigarettes.
He had the loudest voice of any drill sergeant, and seemed to enjoy the group smokings as well as the individual smokings.
- 5
The act of exposing (something) to smoke; (by extension) the process by which foods are cured or flavored by smoke.
- 6
obsoleteA bantering; teasing; mockery.
Etymology
From Middle English smokyng, smokynge, equivalent to smoke + -ing.
Forms
- plural
- smokings
- comparative
- more smoking
- superlative
- most smoking