Stifle Definition

stīfəl

stifled, stifles, stifling

verb

stifled, stifles, stifling

To interrupt or cut off (the voice, for example).

American Heritage

To die from lack of air.

Webster's New World

To suffer from lack of fresh, cool air.

Webster's New World

To suppress or repress; hold back; check, stop, inhibit, etc.

To stifle a sob, to stifle protests.

Webster's New World

To kill by cutting off the supply of air from; suffocate; smother; choke.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

noun

stifles

The kneelike joint above the hock in the hind leg of a horse, dog, etc.

Webster's New World

(veterinary medicine) A bone disease of this region.

Wiktionary

Synonyms:

Other Word Forms of Stifle

Singular:

stifle

Plural:

From Middle English stiflen, from Old Norse stífla (“to dam, choke, stop up"), from stífla (“dam"), from Proto-Germanic *stÄ«filaz, *stÄ«filÄ… (“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 stÄ«pe (“stake, support").

From Wiktionary
Middle English stifilen alteration (influenced by Old Norse stīfla to stop up) of stuffen, stuflen to stifle, choke, drown from Old French estoufer of Germanic origin

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Middle English possibly from Old French estivel pipe, leg, tibia from Latin stīpes stick

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition