STIFLING • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Stifling

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/stˈaɪflɪŋ/ /stˈaɪfəlɪŋ/ Listen

verb

Stifle v. t. (past & past part. stifled; pres. part. stifling)

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." "I took my leave, being half stifled with the closeness of the room."

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."

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."

Stifle v. i. To die by reason of obstruction of the breath, or because some noxious substance prevents respiration. "You shall stifle in your own report."

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Etymology of 'Stifling'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Stifling" Quotes from Famous Books

... moment the whole brig was shaken, and the councilors startled from their dignity by a tremendous explosion which drove them from their seats, while the air was rent by yells and shrieks in various tones and degrees, and a stifling smoke and smell of gunpowder ...

— Standish of Standish - A story of the Pilgrims • Jane G. Austin

... pyramids of skulls festooned with human hair, a cave inhabited by reptiles with human faces, and an apartment whose walls were hung with carpets of a thousand kinds and a thousand hues, which moved slowly to and fro as if stirred by human creatures stifling beneath their weight. But Beckford passes swiftly from one mood to another, and was only momentarily fascinated by terror. So infinite is the variety of Vathek in scenery and in temper that it seems like its wealthy, eccentric, author secluded in Fonthill Abbey, ...

— The Tale of Terror • Edith Birkhead

... The sound of his voice grated on her ears; his commendation made her doubt the wisdom and purity of her own act; his approval irritated her as no rebuke could have done. Without waiting for him to conclude his sentence, she grasped Bertha's hand, whispering, "I cannot stay here; I am stifling; come with me." ...

— Fairy Fingers - A Novel • Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie

... it broken with the pity of it all. A city's tragedies often require search to reveal them, but upon the frontier tragedy stalks unsepulchered in the background of nearly every life, ready to leap out in all its naked horror and settle itself leech-like upon the sympathetic heart, stifling it with ...

— The Twins of Suffering Creek • Ridgwell Cullum

... stifling, cruel work; with their mouths choked with dust, with their throats caked with thirst, with their eyes blind with smoke; while the steel was thrust through nerve and sinew, or the shot plowed through ...

— The boy Allies at Liege • Clair W. Hayes

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