---
title: smite — Early Modern English dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «smite» in the Early Modern English dictionary: To hit hard, or to strike down and destroy. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# smite

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**Who acts:** you, daughter, he · **What happens:** hit, strike down, destroy, harass, smite, say · **To what, where:** Midianites, beloved, secret · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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«smite» in the Early Modern English dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [smite in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/smite.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To hit hard, or to strike down and destroy.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:smite:m1:1
# text = To hit hard, or to strike down and destroy.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	hit	hit	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	hard	hard	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	2	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
5	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	strike	strike	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	down	down	ADP	RP	_	7	compound:prt	_	_
9	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
10	destroy	destroy	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	7	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **hit** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | hard *property* | vn contiguous\_location-47.8-1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **strike down** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn sound\_emission-43.2 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 3 | **destroy** | infinitive |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn destroy-44 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
'Harass the Midianites, and smite them;

<!-- .note -->
From Torah NUM.25.17, JPS 1917.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:smite:x1:1
# text = 'Harass the Midianites, and smite them;
1	'	'	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Harass	harass	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	Midianites	Midianite	PROPN	NNPS	Number=Plur	2	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	7	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	smite	smite	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	2	conj	_	_
8	them	they	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **harass** | imperative | you *not said here* | the Midianites |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus midianite=Experiencer |
| 2 | **smite** | infinitive | you *not said here* | Midianites *= midianite* |  |  |  |  | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus they=Experiencer |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then the King’s daughter said: ‘Shame on you thus to smite the beloved of my heart.

<!-- .note -->
From The Red Fairy Book.

<!-- fold The tree, 17 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:smite:x2:1
# text = Then the King’s daughter said: ‘Shame on you thus to smite the beloved of my heart.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	6	advmod	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	King	King	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	5	nmod:poss	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	’s	's	PART	POS	_	3	case	_	_
5	daughter	daughter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
6	said	say	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	:	:	PUNCT	:	_	9	punct	_	_
8	‘	'	PUNCT	``	_	9	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	Shame	shame	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	nsubj	_	_
10	on	on	SCONJ	IN	_	14	mark	_	_
11	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	14	nsubj	_	_
12	thus	thus	ADV	RB	_	14	advmod	_	_
13	to	to	PART	TO	_	14	mark	_	_
14	smite	smite	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	9	acl	_	_
15	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	16	det	_	_
16	beloved	beloved	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	obj	_	_
17	of	of	ADP	IN	_	19	case	_	_
18	my	my	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Number=Sing|Person=1|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	19	nmod:poss	_	_
19	heart	heart	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	16	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
20	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	6	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **say** *speech: assert* | past | the King's daughter |  |  |  | then |  | vn say-37.7-1-1 «NP V that S»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **smite** | to-infinitive | you | the beloved of my heart |  |  |  | thus *property* | vn amuse-31.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Stimulus beloved=Experiencer |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour in secret.

<!-- .note -->
From Torah DEU.27.24, JPS 1917.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:smite:x3:1
# text = Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbour in secret.
1	Cursed	curse	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	5	mark	_	_
2	be	be	AUX	VB	VerbForm=Inf	5	cop	_	_
3	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	5	mark	_	_
5	smiteth	smite	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Style=Arch|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	his	his	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	7	nmod:poss	_	_
7	neighbour	neighbour	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obj	_	_
8	in	in	ADP	IN	_	9	case	_	_
9	secret	secret	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **curse** | participle |  |  |  |  |  |  | vn judgment-33.1-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent |
| 2 | **is** | infinitive | he |  |  | secret |  | smite *property* | tree rules |

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**Text:** the Early Modern English dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova; its examples quote public-domain texts. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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