Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SMITE, v.t. [pret. smote; pp. smitten, smit. Sax. smitan, to strike, smitan ofer or on, to put or place, that is, to throw; D. smyten, to smite, to cast or throw; G. schmeissen, to smite, to fling, to kick, to cast or throw, to fall down, that is, to throw one's self down; Sw. smida, to hammer or forge; Dan. smider, to forge, to strike, to coin, to invent, devise, counterfeit; D. smeeden, to forge; G. schmieden, to coin, forge, invent, fabricate. The latter verb seems to be formed on the noun schmied, a smith, or schmiede, a forge, which is from the root of smite. This verb is the L. mitto; Fr. mettre, with s prefixed. Class Md, or Ms. It is no longer in common use, though not entirely obsolete.]

1. To strike; to throw, drive or force again t, as the fist or hand, a stone or a weapon; to reach with a blow or a weapon; as, to smite one with the fist; to smite with a rod or with a stone. Whoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. – Matth. v.
2. To kill; to destroy the life of by beating or by weapons of any kind; as, to smite one with the sword, or with an arrow or other engine. David smote Goliath with a sling and a stone. The Philistines were often smitten with great slaughter. [This word, like slay, usually or always carries with it something of its original signification, that of beating, striking, the primitive mode of killing. We never apply it to the destruction of life by poison, by accident, or by legal execution.]
3. To blast; to destroy life; as by a stroke or by something sent. The flax and the barley were smitten. – Exod. ix.
4. To afflict; to chasten; to punish. Let us not mistake God's goodness, nor imagine, because he smites us, that we are forsaken by him. Wake.
5. To strike or affect with passion. See what the charms that smite the simple heart. – Pope. Smit with the love of sister arts we came. – Pope. To smite with the tongue, to reproach or upbraid. Jer. xvii.