stifle

Plural: stifles

Noun

joint between the femur and tibia in a quadruped; corresponds to the human knee
An act or state of being stifled.
The joint between the femur and tibia in the hind leg of various four-legged mammals, especially horses, corresponding to the knee in humans.
A bone disease of this region.

Verb

Verb Forms: stifled, stifling, stifles

To suppress or hold back; to smother.
conceal or hide
smother or suppress
- "Stifle your curiosity"
impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of
be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen
To make (an animal or person) unconscious or cause (an animal or person) death by preventing breathing; to smother, to suffocate.
To cause (someone) difficulty in breathing, or a choking or gagging feeling.
To prevent (a breath, cough, or cry, or the voice, etc.) from being released from the throat.
To make (something) unable to be heard by blocking it with some medium.
To keep in, hold back, or repress (something).
To prevent (something) from being revealed; to conceal, to hide, to suppress.
To treat (a silkworm cocoon) with steam as part of the process of silk production.
To die of suffocation.
To smother; to make breathing difficult.
To cause (a dog, horse, or other four-legged mammal) to dislocate or sprain its stifle joint.

Examples

He tried to STIFLE a laugh when his opponent played a clearly misspelled word.
The army stifled the rebellion.
The heat was stifling the children.
This heat is stifling.
Two firemen tragically stifled in yesterday’s fire when trying to rescue an old lady from her bedroom.

Origin / 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, perhaps from 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”) + -el- (derivational infix in verbs, often denoting diminutive, intensive, or repetitive actions or events). 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.

Synonyms

asphyxiate, choke, dampen, knee, muffle, repress, smother, strangle, suffocate, behedge, bequiet, bestill, bind, burke, bury, chasten, check, contain, cork, cover up, curb, curtail, damp, dull, gag, guard, hamshackle, hide away, hinder, hold back, hold down, hush, hush down, hush up, limit, mute, muzzle, occult, quiet, quiet down, quieten, quieten down, restrain, restrict, scomfish, secrete, shackle, silence, stay, stifle, stifle joint, still, stop, straiten, subdue, suppress, throttle, underbring, vanquish, veil, withhold, withstrain

Antonyms

stimulate

Scrabble Score: 9

stifle: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
stifle: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
stifle: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

stifle: valid Words With Friends Word