stifle

1. (transitive, also figuratively) To make (an animal or person) unconscious or cause (an animal or person) death by preventing breathing; to smother, to suffocate.Examples: "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: [...]"Synonyms: asphyxiate, burke, scomfish, strangle, suffocatealsofigurativelytransitive

2. (transitive, hyperbolic) To cause (someone) difficulty in breathing, or a choking or gagging feeling.Examples: "The heat was stifling the children."Synonyms: choke, gag, strangle, throttleexcessivetransitive

3. (transitive, also figuratively) To prevent (a breath, cough, or cry, or the voice, etc.) from being released from the throat.alsofigurativelytransitive

4. (transitive) To make (something) unable to be heard by blocking it with some medium.Synonyms: gag, muffle, bequiet, bestill, damp, dampen, dull, gagtransitive

5. (transitive, figuratively)Examples: "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."Synonyms: hinder, restrain, smother, suppress, throttle, behedge, guard, bindfigurativelytransitive

6. (transitive, figuratively)Synonyms: cover up, hide away, occult, secrete, veilfigurativelytransitive