stifle

To choke up; dam up; close.

To kill by impeding respiration, as by covering the mouth and nose, by introducing an irrespirable substance into the lungs, or by other means; suffocate or greatly oppress by foul air or otherwise; smother.

To stop the passage of; arrest the free action of; extinguish; deaden; quench: as, to stifle flame; to stifle sound.

To suppress; keep from active manifestation; keep from public notice; conceal; repress; destroy: as, to stifle inquiry; to stifle a report; to stifle passion; to stifle convictions.

Synonyms Suffocate, Strangle, etc. See smother.

To husn, muffle, muzzle, gag.

To suffocate; perish by asphyxia.

The stifle-joint.

Disease or other affection of the stifle-bone or stifle-joint, as dislocation or fracture of the patella.

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.