stifle
Part of speech: verb
Morphological type: simple
Etymology: The verb is derived from Late Middle English stuflen (“to have difficulty breathing due to heat, stifle; to suffocate by drowning, drown”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain. Also found in Middle English forstyflyd (“stifled, choked”, past participle).
Perhaps derived from Middle English stuffen (“to kill by suffocation; to stifle from heat; to extinguish, suppress (body heat, breath, humour, etc.); to deprive a plant of the conditions necessary for growth, choke”) + -len (frequentative suffix). Stuffen is derived from Old French estofer, estouffer (“to choke, strangle, suffocate; (figuratively) to inhibit, prevent”) [and other forms] (modern French étouffer), a variant of estoper, estuper (“to block, plug, stop up; to stiffen, thicken”) (modern French étouper (“to caulk”)), influenced by estofer (“to pad, stuff; to upholster”) (modern French étoffer). Estoper is derived from Vulgar Latin *stuppāre, from Latin stuppa (“coarse flax, tow”) (as a stuffing material; from Ancient Greek στύπη (stúpē), στύππη (stúppē) (compare στυππεῖον (stuppeîon)); probably from Pre-Greek) + -āre. According to the Oxford English Dictionary a derivation from Old Norse stífla (“to dam; to choke, stop up”) “appears untenable on the ground both of form and sense”.
The noun is derived from the verb.
Inflected forms:
form: stifles
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: stifling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: stifled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: stifled
pos: verb
tags: past
form: stifil
pos: verb
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: To make (an animal or person) unconscious or cause (an animal or person) to die by preventing breathing; to smother, to suffocate.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
transitive
examples: I took my leave, being half stifled with the closeness of the room.
And while her Hand the ſtreaming Blood oppos'd; / Join'd Face to Face, his Lips with hers ſhe clos'd. / Stifled with Kiſſes, a ſweet Death he dies; / She fills the Fields with undiſtinguiſh'd Cries: [...]
gloss: To cause (someone) difficulty in breathing, or a choking or gagging feeling.
pos: verb
tags: excessive
transitive
examples: The heat was stifling the children.
gloss: To prevent (a breath, cough, or cry, or the voice, etc.) from being released from the throat.
pos: verb
tags: also
figuratively
transitive
gloss: To make (something) unable to be heard by blocking it with some medium.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To keep in, hold back, or repress (something).
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: The army stifled the rebellion.
I desire only to have things fairly represented as they really are; no evidence smothered or stifled.
Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.
In fact, there was no suggestion of that, although Wolves deployed men behind the ball to stifle the league leaders in a first-half that proved very frustrating for City.
gloss: To prevent (something) from being revealed; to conceal, to hide, to suppress.
pos: verb
tags: figuratively
transitive
examples: Atticus tried to stifle a smile but didn’t make it.
gloss: To treat (a silkworm cocoon) with steam as part of the process of silk production.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To die of suffocation.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Two firemen tragically stifled in yesterday’s fire when trying to rescue an old lady from her bedroom.
gloss: To smother; to make breathing difficult.
pos: verb
tags: excessive
intransitive
examples: This heat is stifling.
Nobody has shaved or changed clothes for a week, the heat stifles and the flies are everywhere. There is little water but we do not expect to be here long. This is not much of a letter, Jess. The mailbag goes down our trench once a day. I must finish because it stops for no one.
Related words: die
Derived words: overstifle
stifle-burn
stifled
stifler
stifling
stiflingly
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: задъхвам се
roman: zadǎhvam se
lang: Finnish
word: tukahtua
lang: Italian
word: boccheggiare
lang: Japanese
word: 窒息しそう
roman: chissoku shisou
lang: Khmer
word: ថប់
roman: thɑp
lang: Russian
word: задыха́ться
roman: zadyxátʹsja
lang: Russian
word: задохну́ться
roman: zadoxnútʹsja