• Stifle

    Pronunciation

    • IPA: /ˈstaɪfl/
    • Rhymes: -aɪfÉ™l

    Alternative forms

    Origin

    From Middle English stiflen, from Old Norse stífla ("to dam, choke, stop up"), from stífla ("dam"), from Proto-Germanic *stīfilaz, *stīfilą ("prop, pole, support"), from Proto-Indo-European *steip-, *steib- ("stake, picket"). Cognate with Icelandic stífla ("to dam up, jam, block"), Norwegian stivla ("to dam up, choke, stop"), Low German stipel ("support wood"), Eastern Frisian stīpe ("stake, support").

    Full definition of stifle

    Noun

    stifle

    (plural stifles)
    1. A hind knee of various mammals, especially horses.
    2. (veterinary medicine) A bone disease of this region.

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To interrupt or cut off.
    2. (transitive) To repress, keep in or hold back.
      • WaterlandI desire only to have things fairly represented as they really are; no evidence smothered or stifled.
      • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 15, 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.
      • 2011, October 29, Neil Johnston, Norwich 3-3 Blackburn, 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.
    3. The army stifled the rebellion.
    4. (transitive) To smother or suffocate.
      • John DrydenStifled with kisses, a sweet death he dies.
      • Jonathan SwiftI took my leave, being half stifled with the closeness of the room.
    5. The heat was stifling the children.
    6. (intransitive) To feel smothered etc.
      The heat felt stifling.
    7. (intransitive) To die of suffocation.
      Two firemen tragically stifled in yesterday's fire when trying to rescue an old lady from her bedroom.
    8. (transitive) To treat a silkworm cocoon with steam as part of the process of silk production.

    Synonyms

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