Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To cause asphyxia in; smother.
  • intransitive verb To undergo asphyxia; suffocate.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To produce asphyxia in; suffocate, or deprive of oxygen to the extent of producing death or very serious symptoms.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To bring to a state of asphyxia; to suffocate. [Used commonly in the past pple.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To smother or suffocate someone.
  • verb intransitive To be smothered or suffocated.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of
  • verb deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing
  • verb be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen

Etymologies

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Examples

  • When Jonathan Trott does exactly the same he's a balding madman, some crease-fiddling glory-hunter attempting single-handedly to asphyxiate all cricket with his annihilating leg‑side wagon wheel.

    Colonial promiscuity in danger of diluting test cricket's pleasures | Barney Ronay 2011

  • The chairman wondered whether she would asphyxiate before the singularity at the heart of the warp core crushed the ship.

    Star Trek The Next Generation® David A. McIntee 2011

  • She will be at the church giving arrival updates to the Prince; she will be the only one who can get under the dress and hold it up so Kate can use the loo beforehand; and to figure out how to stuff the massive train into the carriage to the Palace afterwards so it doesn't asphyxiate Will on the way.

    Marcy Blum: The Royal Wedding's Unspoken -- and Secret -- Hero Marcy Blum 2011

  • "We can't leave certain people to asphyxiate the Ivorian economy—because for some people, this is their sole objective," he said.

    Ivory Coast Exporters Threatened John James 2011

  • She will be at the church giving arrival updates to the Prince; she will be the only one who can get under the dress and hold it up so Kate can use the loo beforehand; and to figure out how to stuff the massive train into the carriage to the Palace afterwards so it doesn't asphyxiate Will on the way.

    Marcy Blum: The Royal Wedding's Unspoken -- and Secret -- Hero Marcy Blum 2011

  • The chairman wondered whether she would asphyxiate before the singularity at the heart of the warp core crushed the ship.

    Star Trek The Next Generation® David A. McIntee 2011

  • Climbing up revealed that the alarm meant the backup 9V battery was low, not that I was about to asphyxiate – that would have rated four beeps in quick succession.

    Discourse.net: 2010 - the Year of the Beeps - Part Two 2010

  • Moreover, when the human body does start to asphyxiate on a liquid, it has a … peculiar reflex, designed to prevent aspiration of liquid: the larynx clamps down, preventing anything - air, water, whatever, from entering the lungs.

    Matthew Yglesias » No One Expects The Spanish Inquisition 2010

  • Donovan and his investigators began piecing together the many parts of the Nazi Holocaust machine, unearthing SS documents on “death vans” used to asphyxiate Jews, collecting testimony from Auschwitz survivors on its gas chambers.

    Wild Bill Donovan Douglas Waller 2011

  • She will be at the church giving arrival updates to the Prince; she will be the only one who can get under the dress and hold it up so Kate can use the loo beforehand; and to figure out how to stuff the massive train into the carriage to the Palace afterwards so it doesn't asphyxiate Will on the way.

    Marcy Blum: The Royal Wedding's Unspoken -- and Secret -- Hero Marcy Blum 2011

Comments

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  • I really like this word cause it represents the meaning. Like, you look at that word and you know that it's all choked up!

    August 9, 2008