Princeton's WordNet(2.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. stifle, knee(verb)

   joint between the femur and tibia in a quadruped; corresponds to the human knee

2. smother, stifle, strangle, muffle, repress(verb)

   conceal or hide

   "smother a yawn"; "muffle one's anger"; "strangle a yawn"

3. stifle, dampen(verb)

   smother or suppress

   "Stifle your curiosity"

4. suffocate, stifle, asphyxiate, choke(verb)

   impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of

   "The foul air was slowly suffocating the children"

5. suffocate, stifle, asphyxiate(verb)

   be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen

   "The child suffocated under the pillow"

Wiktionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. stifle(Noun)

   A hind knee of various mammals, especially horses.

2. stifle(Noun)

   A bone disease of this region.

3. stifle(Verb)

   To interrupt or cut off.

4. stifle(Verb)

   To repress, keep in or hold back.

   The army stifled the rebellion.

5. stifle(Verb)

   To smother or suffocate.

   The heat was stifling the children.

6. stifle(Verb)

   To feel smothered etc.

   The heat felt stifling.

7. stifle(Verb)

   To die of suffocation.

   Two firemen tragically stifled in yesterday's fire when trying to rescue an old lady from her bedroom.

8. stifle(Verb)

   To treat a silkworm cocoon with steam as part of the process of silk production.

Origin: From stiflen, from stífla, from stífla, from stīfilaz, from steip-. Cognate with stífla, stivla, stipel, stipe.

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Stifle(noun)

   the joint next above the hock, and near the flank, in the hind leg of the horse and allied animals; the joint corresponding to the knee in man; -- called also stifle joint. See Illust. under Horse

2. Stifle(verb)

   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

3. Stifle(verb)

   to stop; to extinguish; to deaden; to quench; as, to stifle the breath; to stifle a fire or flame

4. Stifle(verb)

   to suppress the manifestation or report of; to smother; to conceal from public knowledge; as, to stifle a story; to stifle passion

5. Stifle(verb)

   to die by reason of obstruction of the breath, or because some noxious substance prevents respiration

Origin: [From Stiff.]

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Stifle

   stī′fl, v.t. to stop the breath of by foul air or other means: to suffocate, smother: to extinguish: to suppress the sound of: to destroy: to suppress, conceal.—v.i. to suffocate.—adj. Stī′fling, close, oppressive. [Scand., Ice. stífla, to choke up; Norw. stivla.]

2. Stifle

   stī′fl, n. the knee-joint on a horse's hind-leg, a disease of his knee-pan. [Perh. stiff.]

U.S. National Library of Medicine(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Stifle

   In horses, cattle, and other quadrupeds, the joint between the femur and the tibia, corresponding to the human knee.

Anagrams for stifle »

1. filets, fliest, itself

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of stifle in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of stifle in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Sample Sentences & Example Usage

1. Flannery O'Connor:

   Everywhere I go I'm asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don't stifle enough of them.

2. Emily Jashinsky:

   [As gun issues] become a hotter topic and the more conservatives voice their opinions, the more liberals will try to stifle them.

3. Anne Louise Germaine de Staël:

   The voice of conscience is so delicate that it is easy to stifle it; but it is also so clear that it is impossible to mistake it.

4. Bob Corker:

   Here's my message to the Republican Party leaders: Focus more on listening to the American people and less on trying to stifle their voice.

5. Anuj Somany:

   Fools misguide themselves via a stupid thinking that by intentionally ignoring the insightful voice of the wise they can stifle his progress.

Images & Illustrations of stifle