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Webster 1913 Edition


Stifle

Sti′fle

,
Noun.
[From
Stiff
.]
(Far.)
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
.
Stifle bone
,
a small bone at the stifle joint; the patella, or kneepan.

Sti′fle

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Stifled
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Stifling
.]
[Freq. of OE.
stif
stiff; cf. Icel.
stīfla
to dam up.]
1.
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
.
Stifled
with kisses, a sweet death he dies.
Dryden.
I took my leave, being half
stifled
with the closeness of the room.
Swift.
2.
To stop; to extinguish; to deaden; to quench;
as, to
stifle
the breath; to
stifle
a fire or flame
.
Bodies . . .
stifle
in themselves the rays which they do not reflect or transmit.
Sir I. Newton.
3.
To suppress the manifestation or report of; to smother; to conceal from public knowledge;
as, to
stifle
a story; to
stifle
passion
.
I desire only to have things fairly represented as they really are; no evidence smothered or
stifled
.
Waterland.

Sti′fle

,
Verb.
I.
To die by reason of obstruction of the breath, or because some noxious substance prevents respiration.
You shall
stifle
in your own report.
Shakespeare

Webster 1828 Edition


Stifle

STIFLE

,
Verb.
T.
[L., stiff and stop. Gr.]
1.
To suffocate; to stop the breath or action of the lungs by crowding something into the windpipe, or by infusing a substance into the lungs, or by other means; to choke; as, to stifle one with smoke or dust.
2.
To stop; as, to stifle the breath; to stifle respiration.
3.
To oppress; to stop the breath temporarily; as, to stifle one with kisses; to be stifled in a close room or with bad air.
4.
To extinguish; to deaden; to quench; as, to stifle flame; to stifle a fire by smoke or by ashes.
5.
To suppress; to hinder from transpiring or spreading; as, to stifle a report.
6.
To extinguish; to check or restrain and destroy; to suppress; as, to stifle a civil war in its birth.
7.
To suppress or repress; to conceal; to withhold from escaping or manifestation; as, to stifle passion; to stifle grief; to stifle resentment.
8.
To suppress; to destroy; as, to stifle convictions.

STIFLE

,
Noun.
1.
The joint of a horse next to the buttock, and corresponding to the knee in man; called also the stifle joint.
2.
A disease in the knee-pan of a horse or other animal.

Definition 2024


stifle

stifle

See also: štifle

English

Alternative forms

  • stifil

Noun

stifle (plural stifles)

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

Translations

Verb

stifle (third-person singular simple present stifles, present participle stifling, simple past and past participle stifled)

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

Synonyms

Translations

Anagrams