What is the meaning of smothering?

verb

• Envelop completely.
  • usage: "smother the meat in gravy"
  • synonyms: smother, surround
• Deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing.
  • usage: "Othello smothered Desdemona with a pillow"; "The child suffocated herself with a plastic bag that the parents had left on the floor"
  • synonyms: smother, asphyxiate, suffocate
• Conceal or hide.
  • usage: "smother a yawn"; "muffle one's anger"; "strangle a yawn"
  • synonyms: smother, stifle, strangle, muffle, repress
• Form an impenetrable cover over.
  • usage: "the butter cream smothered the cake"
  • synonyms: smother
• Deprive of the oxygen necessary for combustion.
  • usage: "smother fires"
  • synonyms: smother, put out

adjective

• Causing difficulty in breathing especially through lack of fresh air and presence of heat.
  • usage: "the choking June dust"; "the smothering soft voices"; "smothering heat"; "the room was suffocating-hot and airless"
  • synonyms: suffocating, suffocative