In the passage, which of the following words means 'to strike with a firm blow'?

Directions: Read the passage carefully and answer the question based on it.

The old woman died without pain, a death worth a woman whose life had been blameless. She was resting in her bed, lying on her back, with eyes closed, her face calm, her long white hair carefully arranged as though she had done it up ten minutes before dying. The whole pale face of the dead woman was, so calm, so satisfied that one could feel her sweet soul that lived in her body. She had been a pure and quiet soul. Kneeling beside the bed, her son, a judge with rigid principles, and her daughter, Maria, known as Sister Alis, were weeping with broken hearts. She had given them strict moral code, teaching them religion, without weakness, and duty, without compromise. He, the man, had become a judge and handled the law as a weapon with which he smote the weak ones without pity. She, the girl, influenced by the virtue, which had bathed her in this austere family, had become the bride of the Church through her loathing for man.