Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Suffocate
Suf′fo-cate
,Adj.
Suffocated; choked.
Shak.
Suf′fo-cate
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Suffocated
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Suffocating
.] 1.
To choke or kill by stopping respiration; to stifle; to smother.
Let not hemp his windpipe
suffocate
. Shakespeare
2.
To destroy; to extinguish;
as, to
. suffocate
fireSuf′fo-cate
,Verb.
I.
To become choked, stifled, or smothered.
“A swelling discontent is apt to suffocate and strangle without passage.” collier.
Webster 1828 Edition
Suffocate
SUF'FOCATE
,Verb.
T.
1.
To choke or kill by stopping respiration. Respiration may be stopped by the interception of air, as in hanging and strangling, or by the introduction of smoke, dust or mephitic air into the lungs. Men may be suffocated by the halter; or men may be suffocated in smoke or in carbonic acid gas, as in mines and wells. And let not hemp his windpipe suffocate.
2.
To stifle; to destroy; to extinguish; as, to suffocate fire or live coals. A swelling discontent is apt to suffocate and strangle without passage.
SUF'FOCATE
,Adj.
Definition 2024
suffocate
suffocate
English
Verb
suffocate (third-person singular simple present suffocates, present participle suffocating, simple past and past participle suffocated)
- (ergative) To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.
- Open the hatch, he is suffocating in the airlock!
- (ergative) To die due to, or kill someone by means of, insufficient oxygen supply to the body.
- He suffocated his wife by holding a pillow over her head.
- Shakespeare
- Let not hemp his windpipe suffocate.
- (ergative, figuratively) To overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation.
- I'm suffocating under this huge workload.
- (transitive) To destroy; to extinguish.
- to suffocate fire
Synonyms
- (To suffer from reduced oxygen): asphyxiate
- (To die from insufficient oxygen): stifle
- (To be overwhelmed): drown
- (To reduce oxygen supply): asphyxiate, smother
- (To kill by deprivation of oxygen): asphyxiate, stifle
- (To make weary with contact): smother
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
(intransitive) to suffer from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body
(intransitive) to die due to insufficient oxygen supply to the body
|
(transitive) to cause someone to suffer severely reduced oxygen supply to his body
(transitive) to kill someone by depriving him of a sufficient oxygen intake
Adjective
suffocate (comparative more suffocate, superlative most suffocate)
- (obsolete) Suffocated; choked.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)