sti·fle 1 (st īf əl)
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tr.v. sti·fled, sti·fling, sti·fles 1. To interrupt or cut off (the voice, for example). 2. To keep in or hold back; repress: stifled my indignation. 3. To kill by preventing respiration; smother or suffocate.
[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.]
stifler n. |