stifling : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: stifling	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for stifling
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
stifling adj characterized by oppressive heat and humidity; "the summer was sultry and oppressive"; "the stifling atmosphere"; "the sulfurous atmosphere preceding a thunderstorm" Synonym(s): sultry, stifling, sulfurous, sulphurous n forceful prevention; putting down by power or authority; "the suppression of heresy"; "the quelling of the rebellion"; "the stifling of all dissent" Synonym(s): suppression, crushing, quelling, stifling
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Stifle \Sti"fle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Stifled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Stifling}.] [Freq. of OE. stif stiff; cf. Icel. st[c6]fla to dam up.] 1. To stop the breath of by crowding something into the windpipe, or introducing an irrespirable substance into the lungs; to choke; to suffocate; to cause the death of by such means; as, to stifle one with smoke or dust. Stifled with kisses, a sweet death he dies. --Dryden. I took my leave, being half stifled with the closeness of the room. --Swift. 2. To stop; to extinguish; to deaden; to quench; as, to stifle the breath; to stifle a fire or flame. Bodies . . . stifle in themselves the rays which they do not reflect or transmit. --Sir I. Newton. 3. To suppress the manifestation or report of; to smother; to conceal from public knowledge; as, to stifle a story; to stifle passion. I desire only to have things fairly represented as they really are; no evidence smothered or stifled. --Waterland.