From Middle English smiten, from Old English smītan, from Proto-West Germanic *smītan, from Proto-Germanic *smītaną, from Proto-Indo-European *smeyd-.

Cognate with Saterland Frisian smiete, Western Frisian smite, Low German smieten, Dutch smijten, Middle Low German besmitten, German schmeißen, Danish smide, Gothic 𐌱𐌹𐍃𐌼𐌴𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽.

• enPR: smīt, IPA: /smaɪt/

smite (smites, present participle smiting; simple past smote, past participle smitten)

1. (archaic) To hit; to strike.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Matthew 5:39 ↗:

     Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC ↗:

     A harp can give out but a certain quantity of sound, however heavily it is smitten.

   • 1906, Stanley J[ohn] Weyman, chapter I, in Chippinge Borough, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co., →OCLC ↗, page 01 ↗:

     It was April 22, 1831, and a young man was walking down Whitehall in the direction of Parliament Street. […]. He halted opposite the Privy Gardens, and, with his face turned skywards, listened until the sound of the Tower guns smote again on the ear and dispelled his doubts.

2. To strike down or kill with godly force.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Exodus [https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/1611_Exodus-Chapter-3/#19–20 3:19–20]:

     And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.

3. To injure with divine power.
4. To kill violently; to slay.
   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC ↗:

     "She is sitting in the great hall even now to do justice upon those who would have smitten thee and the Lion."

5. To put to rout in battle; to overthrow by war.
6. To afflict; to chasten; to punish.
   • 1688, William Wake, Preparation for Death:

     Let us not mistake the goodness of God, nor imagine that because he smites us, therefore we are forsaken by him.

7. (figuratively, now only in passive) To strike with love or infatuation.

   Bob was smitten with Laura from the first time he saw her.

   I was really smitten by the color combination, and soon repainted the entire house.

   Who'd be smitten over a bird?

• French: frapper
• German: schlagen
• Italian: colpire
• Portuguese: golpear, bater
• Russian: карать
• Spanish: golpear, cascar

• French: frapper
• German: schlagen
• Italian: fulminare, annientare, annichilire
• Portuguese: fulminar

• Italian: impressionare

smite (plural smites)

1. (archaic, rare) A heavy strike with a weapon, tool or the hand.