Stifle
['staɪf(ə)l] or ['staɪfl]
Definition
(noun.) joint between the femur and tibia in a quadruped; corresponds to the human knee.
(verb.) smother or suppress; 'Stifle your curiosity'.
Typist: Theodore--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The joint next above the hock, and near the flank, in the hind leg of the horse and allied animals; the joint corresponding to the knee in man; -- called also stifle joint. See Illust. under Horse.
(v. t.) To stop the breath of by crowding something into the windpipe, or introducing an irrespirable substance into the lungs; to choke; to suffocate; to cause the death of by such means; as, to stifle one with smoke or dust.
(v. t.) To stop; to extinguish; to deaden; to quench; as, to stifle the breath; to stifle a fire or flame.
(v. t.) To suppress the manifestation or report of; to smother; to conceal from public knowledge; as, to stifle a story; to stifle passion.
(v. i.) To die by reason of obstruction of the breath, or because some noxious substance prevents respiration.
Checked by Jacques
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Smother, choke, suffocate.[2]. Suppress, repress, check, deaden, stop, destroy, extinguish, quench.[3]. Still, hush, silence, muffle, muzzle, gag.
Inputed by Laura
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Choke, suffocate, {[sniotfapr]?}, throttle, quench, repress, suppress,extinguish, burke
ANT:Ventilate, discuss, promulgate, propound
Checked by Aida
Definition
n. the knee-joint on a horse's hind-leg a disease of his knee-pan.
v.t. to stop the breath of by foul air or other means: to suffocate smother: to extinguish: to suppress the sound of: to destroy: to suppress conceal.—v.i. to suffocate.—adj. Stī′fling close oppressive.
Typist: Weldon
Examples
- And while they maunder along they stifle the forces of life which are trying to break through. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- It was impossible to stifle the consequences of that process for ever by political trickery. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- My heart gave a great bound, and throbbed as if it would stifle me. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- She would stifle it and bury it, as Hetty Sorrell did. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- He was ready to stifle with vexation, and obstinately would not promise to row. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- Margaret's heart ached at his restlessness--his trying to stifle and strangle the hideous fear that was looming out of the dark places of his heart. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- I cannot bear houses; they stifle me; they crush me. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- The sensation of being stifled sometimes so overpowered him, that he would stand at the window holding his throat and gasping. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- The house is stifled by them. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- The air of the place stifled him, and he wondered why he had stayed in it so long. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- If the baby cried, it was nearly stifled lest the noise should make him uncomfortable. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- This cabinet dazzled me, it was so full of light: it deafened me, it was clamorous with voices: it stifled me, it was so hot, choking, thronged. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Jo lay motionless, and her sister fancied that she was asleep, till a stifled sob made her exclaim, as she touched a wet cheek. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- I am stifled at the present moment, and have scarcely breath enough to say this much, and to carry this precious box down-stairs for you. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- If one had habitually breathed the New York air there were times when anything less crystalline seemed stifling. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- Here, its power was only a glare: a stifling, sickly glare, serving but to bring forward stains and dirt that might otherwise have slept. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- It was a close and stifling little shop; full of all sorts of clothing, made and unmade, including one window full of beaver-hats and bonnets. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- The kilns were burning, and a stifling vapour set towards us with a pale-blue glare. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- When he was gone, Dorothea's tears gushed forth, and relieved her stifling oppression. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- In this state of abstraction he found himself, the following morning, waking to the reality of a stifling September day in New York. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- Are you doctor enough, Godfrey, to tell me why I feel as if I was stifling for want of breath? Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- It stifles me to breathe the same air with her! Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
Checker: Tessie