smoke

smoke¹ W3S3 [sməuk US smouk] n

[: Old English; Origin: smoca]

1.) [U]

white, grey or black gas that is produced by something burning

▪ clouds of black smoke

▪ cigarette smoke

▪ Smoke from burning fields drifted across nearby roads.

▪ the pall of smoke (=thick cloud of smoke) that hung over the city

wisp/puff of smoke

(=a small amount of smoke)

▪ Rangers watched from their fire towers for any wisps of smoke.

2.) [C usually singular]

an act of smoking a cigarette etc

▪ He went outside for a quiet smoke.

3.) (go) up in smoke

a) if something goes up in smoke, it burns so that it is completely destroyed

▪ The whole factory went up in smoke.

b) informal if a plan or some work goes up in smoke, it fails or you cannot continue with it

▪ We haven't worked this long just to see everything go up in smoke.

4.) spoken

a cigarette or drugs that are smoked

▪ Where are the smokes, Jeff?

5.) there's no smoke without fire also where there's smoke there's fire

spoken used to say that if something bad is being said about someone, it is probably partly true

6.) the Smoke

BrE old-fashioned informal London or any large town or city

smoke ²

smoke² W2S2 v

1.) [I and T]

to suck or breathe in smoke from a cigarette, pipe etc or to do this regularly as a habit

▪ I don't smoke and I don't drink much.

▪ Do you mind if I smoke?

▪ He sat on the grass smoking a cigarette.

▪ He admitted that he had smoked marijuana when he was a student.

2.)

if something smokes, it has smoke coming from it

▪ a smoking chimney

3.) [T]

to give fish or meat a special taste by hanging it in smoke

smoke out [smoke sb/sth<=>out] [i]phr v

1.) to fill a place with smoke in order to force someone or something to come out

▪ He smoked the bees out of their nest.

2.) to discover who is causing a particular problem and force them to make themselves known

▪ an operation to smoke out double agents