stifle

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“
His rage to stifle, as she clearly thought,

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Definitions (23)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. transitive verb To interrupt or cut off (the voice, for example).
  2. transitive verb To keep in or hold back; repress: stifled my indignation.
  3. transitive verb To kill by preventing respiration; smother or suffocate.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

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Examples (50)

  • “Poeta nascitur et fit;” and if the demands of technical routine have sometimes tended to stifle, the comparative repose of a seclusion “unravaged” by the fierce activities around it, the habit of dwelling on the old wisdom and harping on the ancient strings, is calculated to foster the poetic temper and enrich its resources. —  Byron
  • "We can never be sure that the opinion we are endeavoring to stifle is a false opinion; and if we were sure, stifling it would be an evil still." —  Planet Atheism
  • And, horses can rest standing up, by locking their knee called a stifle joint in place, which explains why cowboys in the many Westerns movies we've watched are lounging at the campfire when their horses are up and willing to go.
  • They Overwhelm and stifle, everything that you though you knew They Overwhelm and stifle, from the very first breat you drew They Overwhelm and stifle, —  www.blogalaxia.com Directorio y Buscador de Blogs Latinos
  • If the turnover rate is too low at slow growth firms (below 4\%) it can "stifle" internal movement, frustrate your employees (which may lead to future turnover) and slow up individual talent development. —  ERE.net
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same contextWord Family

stifle:   stifled ·  stifling ·  stifles
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English stifilen, alteration (influenced by Old Norse stīfla, to stop up) of stuffen, stuflen, to stifle, choke, drown, from Old French estoufer, of Germanic origin.
  2. Middle English, possibly from Old French estivel, pipe, leg, tibia, from Latin stīpes, stick.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also stifil; from Icelandic stīfla = Norwegian stivla, dam up, choke, stop, perhaps (like Norwegian stivra, stiffen) freq. of Norwegian stiva = Swedish styfva = Danish stive = Middle English stiven, stiffen: see stive, stiff, v. The word was prob. confused with English stive. from Old French estiver, pack tight, stive: see steve.
  2. Formerly also stiffle; apparently from stiff, dial. stife: see stiff.
 

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/ˈstaɪfl/
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