From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsmooth something ↔ over phrasal verbDEAL WITHif you smooth over problems, difficulties etc, you make them seem less serious and easier to control, especially by talking to the people who are involved in the problem Sally managed to smooth over the bad feelings between them. → smooth→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
smooth over• Tomorrow he would send a gift - one of the new range of creatures, perhaps - to smooth things over.• He smoothed it over and went home to bed.• Later, I tried to smooth things over, but he wasn't interested.• Robyn unscrewed a jar of moisturiser and smoothed it over her face and neck.• Astrid smoothed her skirt over her hips and sat down.• The old men bury their fellows, smooth the clay over them.• Whisk sauce until smooth and pour over turkey.• She smoothed it over with her hand. 