smoking

Verb

smoke (third-person singular simple present smokes, present participle smoking, simple past smoked, past participle smoked or (rare, nonstandard) smoken)

1. (transitive) To inhale and exhale the smoke from a burning cigarette or cigar, burning material in a pipe, etc.
   • He's smoking his pipe.

   Synonyms:

   have a smoke

2. (intransitive) To inhale and exhale tobacco smoke.
   • He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him. I liked the man for his own sake, and even had he promised to turn out a celebrity it would have had no weight with me.1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 2
3. (intransitive) To give off smoke.
   • My old truck was still smoking even after the repairs.
   1. (intransitive) Of a fire in a fireplace, to emit smoke outward instead of up the chimney, owing to imperfect draught.
   2. (intransitive) Of tobacco: to give off or produce smoke (in a certain manner or of a certain type).
      • "Damp tobacco," said Cripps, eyeing Limpet offensively as he threw down the challenge, "smokes unevenly. You'll admit that to start with."1913, Norman Lindsay, A Curate in Bohemia, Sydney: N.S.W. Bookstall Co., published 1932, page 12
4. (transitive) To preserve or prepare (food) for consumption by treating with smoke.
   • You'll need to smoke the meat for several hours.

See all 36 meanings of smoke