stifle
/ˈstaɪf(ə)l/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.00 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To make (an animal or person) unconscious or cause (an animal or person) to die by preventing breathing; to smother, to suffocate.
Transitive verb
verb
To prevent (a breath, cough, or cry, or the voice, etc.) from being released from the throat.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "I took my leave, being half stifled with the closeness of the room."
- "And while her Hand the ſtreaming Blood oppos'd; / Join'd Face to Face, his Lips with hers ſhe clos'd. / Stifled with Kiſſes, a ſweet Death he dies; / She fills the Fields with undiſtinguiſh'd Cries: [...]"
- "The heat was stifling the children."
- "The army stifled the rebellion."
- "I desire only to have things fairly represented as they really are; no evidence smothered or stifled."
- "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."
Etymology
The verb is derived from Late Middle English stuflen (“to have difficulty breathing due to heat, stifle; to suffocate by drowning, drown”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain. Also found in Middle English forstyflyd (“stifled, choked”, past participle). Perhaps derived from Middle English stuffen (“to kill by suffocation; to stifle from heat; to extinguish, suppress (body heat, breath, humour, etc.); to deprive a plant of the conditions necessary for growth, choke”) + -len (frequentative suffix). Stuffen is derived from Old French estofer, estouffer (“to choke, strangle, suffocate; (figuratively) to inhibit, prevent”) [and other forms] (modern French étouffer), a variant of estoper, estuper (“to block, plug, stop up; to stiffen, thicken”) (modern French étouper (“to caulk”)), influenced by estofer (“to pad, stuff; to upholster”) (modern French étoffer). Estoper is derived from Vulgar Latin *stuppāre, from Latin stuppa (“coarse flax, tow”) (as a stuffing material; from Ancient Greek στύπη (stúpē), στύππη (stúppē) (compare στυππεῖον (stuppeîon)); probably from Pre-Greek) + -āre. According to the Oxford English Dictionary a derivation from Old Norse stífla (“to dam; to choke, stop up”) “appears untenable on the ground both of form and sense”. The noun is derived from the verb.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: stuflen, stuffen, estofer, *stuppāre, stuppa, στύπη
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈstaɪf(ə)l/
- British English: /ˈstaɪfl̩/
Usage
Inflected Forms
Derived Forms
Phrases
stifle-burn
stifle bone
stifle joint