stifle
verbEtymology
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, perhaps from 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”) + -el- (derivational infix in verbs, often denoting diminutive, intensive, or repetitive actions or events). 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.
- derived from στύπη
- derived from *stuppāre✻
- derived from estofer
- inherited from stuflen — “to have difficulty breathing due to heat, stifle; to suffocate by drowning, drown”
Definitions
To make (an animal or person) unconscious or cause (an animal or person) to die by…
To make (an animal or person) unconscious or cause (an animal or person) to die by preventing breathing; to smother, to suffocate.
- 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: [...]
To cause (someone) difficulty in breathing, or a choking or gagging feeling.
- The heat was stifling the children.
To prevent (a breath, cough, or cry, or the voice, etc.) from being released from the…
To prevent (a breath, cough, or cry, or the voice, etc.) from being released from the throat.
›+ 10 more definitionsshow fewer
To make (something) unable to be heard by blocking it with some medium.
To keep in, hold back, or repress (something).
- The army stifled the rebellion.
- I desire only to have things fairly represented as they really are; no evidence smothered or stifled.
To prevent (something) from being revealed
To prevent (something) from being revealed; to conceal, to hide, to suppress.
- Atticus tried to stifle a smile but didn’t make it.
To treat (a silkworm cocoon) with steam as part of the process of silk production.
To die of suffocation.
- Two firemen tragically stifled in yesterday’s fire when trying to rescue an old lady from her bedroom.
To smother
To smother; to make breathing difficult.
- This heat is stifling.
An act or state of being stifled.
The joint between the femur and tibia in the hind leg of various four-legged mammals,…
The joint between the femur and tibia in the hind leg of various four-legged mammals, especially horses, corresponding to the knee in humans.
A bone disease of this region.
To cause (a dog, horse, or other four-legged mammal) to dislocate or sprain its stifle…
To cause (a dog, horse, or other four-legged mammal) to dislocate or sprain its stifle joint.
The neighborhood
- neighbordie
Derived
overstifle, stifle-burn, stifled, stifler, stifling, stiflingly, stifle bone, stifle joint
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at stifle. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at stifle. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
7 hops · closes at stifle
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA