smoke (sm k)n. 1. The vaporous system made up of small particles of carbonaceous matter in the air, resulting mainly from the burning of organic material, such as wood or coal. 2. A suspension of fine solid or liquid particles in a gaseous medium. 3. A cloud of fine particles. 4. Something insubstantial, unreal, or transitory. 5. a. The act of smoking a form of tobacco: went out for a smoke. b. The duration of this act. 6. Informal Tobacco in a form that can be smoked, especially a cigarette: money to buy smokes. 7. A substance used in warfare to produce a smoke screen. 8. Something used to conceal or obscure. 9. A pale to grayish blue to bluish or dark gray. v. smoked, smok·ing, smokes v.intr. 1. a. To draw in and exhale smoke from a cigarette, cigar, or pipe: It's forbidden to smoke here. b. To engage in smoking regularly or habitually: He smoked for years before stopping. 2. To emit smoke or a smokelike substance: chimneys smoking in the cold air. 3. To emit smoke excessively: The station wagon smoked even after the tune-up. 4. Slang a. To go or proceed at high speed. b. To play or perform energetically: The band was really smoking in the second set. v.tr. Phrasal Verb: 1. a. To draw in and exhale the smoke of (tobacco, for example): I've never smoked a panatela. b. To do so regularly or habitually: I used to smoke filtered cigarettes. 2. To preserve (meat or fish) by exposure to the aromatic smoke of burning hardwood, usually after pickling in salt or brine. 3. a. To fumigate (a house, for example). b. To expose (animals, especially insects) to smoke in order to immobilize or drive away. 4. To expose (glass) to smoke in order to darken or change its color. 5. Slang To kill; murder. smoke out Idiom: 1. To force out of a place of hiding or concealment by or as if by the use of smoke. 2. To detect and bring to public view; expose or reveal: smoke out a scandal. smoke and mirrors Something that deceives or distorts the truth: Your explanation is nothing but smoke and mirrors. [Middle English, from Old English smoca.] smok  a·ble, smokea·ble adj. |
smoke and mirrors
n
irrelevant or misleading information serving to obscure the truth of a situation
[reference to the use of smoke and mirrors in conjuring illusions]
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