▪ I. stifle, n.1
(ˈstaɪf(ə)l)
Also 6–8 stiffle.
[Of obscure origin.
Connection with stiff a. is commonly assumed, but is very doubtful.]
1. The joint at the junction of the hind leg and the body (between the femur and the tibia) in a horse or other quadruped: corresponding anatomically to the knee in man.
| c 1320 Sir Tristr. 487 [With reference to cutting up a deer.] To þe stifles he ȝede And euen ato hem schare. 1580 Blundevil Curing Horses Dis. cxxii. 55 b, If a Horse halt behind, the griefe must either be in the hippe, in the stiffle, in the hough [etc.]. 1726 Dict. Rust. (ed. 3), Gascoin, the hinder thigh of a Horse, which begins at the Stiffle. 1882 Daily Tel. 26 Oct. 3/6 Although kicked in the stifle..and badly lamed, Althotas repeated his Tuesday's victory. 1897 Encycl. Sport I. 329/2 (Dogs) Stifle, the joint in a dog's hind leg next to the buttock; the hip joint. 1907 Q. Rev. Jan. 204 The size of the bone at the ankles and stifles being particularly important [in the foxhound]. |
† 2. Dislocation or sprain of the stifle-joint. Obs.
Quot. 1587 seems erroneous.
| 1580 Blundevil Curing Horses Dis. cxxiv. 56 b, The stiffle commeth by meanes of some side blowe, or some great straine, slipping, or sliding. 1587 L. Mascall 2nd Bk. Cattell, Horses (1596) 124 For a stiffle in the heele of a horse. |
3. Comb. stifle-bone, -cap, -pan, the patella of a horse, the bone in front of the stifle-joint; stifle-joint = sense 1; stifle-slip (see quot.).
| 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. lxxii. 338 If the horse be stifled, the *stifle bone will sticke out more of the one side then of the other. 1678 Lond. Gaz. No. 1321/4 With a white speck on the stifle bone on the far side. 1908 *Stifle cap [see quot. for stifle slip]. |
| 1580 Blundevil Curing Horses Dis. cxxii. 55 b, If the griefe be in the stiffle, then the Horse in his going will cast the *stiffle ioint outward. 1888 MacFadyean Comp. Anat. Dom. Anim. i. 197 The stifle joint corresponds to the knee of the human subject. The bones that enter into its formation are the femur, the tibia, and the patella. 1893 Dunmore Pamirs II. 75, I..fired at the last ram, hitting him in the last leg, breaking it at the stifle joint. |
| c 1720 W. Gibson Farrier's Guide i. vi. (1738) 97 A small bone, somewhat round, called the Patella or *Stifle-pan. |
| 1908 Animal Managem. 334 *Stifle slip, dislocation of the *stifle cap. |
▪ II. stifle, n.2
(ˈstaɪf(ə)l)
In 4 styffle.
[f. stifle v.1]
† 1. An asthmatic complaint, with difficulty in breathing. Obs. rare—1.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. xv. (Tollemache MS.) As in hem þat haue þe pirre and styffles and ben pursyf and þikke breþid [L. ut patet in asthmaticis et anhelosis]. |
2. The fact of stifling or the condition of being stifled. rare.
| 1823 Lamb Elia Ser. ii. Amicus Rediv., Life meantime was ebbing fast away, amidst the stifle of conflicting judgments. 1825 Coleridge Lett., Convers. etc. (1836) II. 188, I was ever in a stifle of my reflected anxieties. 1904 Westm. Gaz. 2 Nov. 1/3 The smell of trodden sods mingles with the stifle of all these poor unwashed folk in the warm moist air. |
3. (See quot.)
| 1886 J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms 64 Stifle, noxious gas resulting from an underground fire. |
▪ III. stifle, v.1
(ˈstaɪf(ə)l)
Forms: 4 stuf(f)le, 5–6 stifil, 6 styfel, stiefle, stiffel, 6–7 styfle, stifel, 6–8, 9 dial. stiffle, 6– stifle.
[Of obscure origin.
The early forms stufle, stuffle suggest connexion of some kind with OF. estouffer to stifle, smother. Cf. also stife, and the early forms of stew v.2 The view that the word is from ON. st{iacu}fla to dam up (water) appears untenable on the ground both of form and sense.]
1. trans. To kill by stopping respiration; to kill or deprive of consciousness (a person or animal) by covering the mouth and nose, by depriving of pure air or by introducing an irrespirable vapour into the throat and lungs; to suffocate. † Also with up.
| 1513 More Rich. III Wks. 68/2 So..keping down by force the..pillowes hard vnto their mouthes, that within a while smored and stifled, theyr breath failing, thei gaue vp to god their innocent soules. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI (1550) 69 b, Other write, that he was stiffeled or smoldered betwene twoo fetherbeddes. 1570 Levins Manip. 127/35 To stifil, suffocare. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. 65 There is no covering to defend the sunne, whereon with the same only men are stiffeled up. [Marg.] Men stifled with the Sunne onely. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. iv. iii. 33 Shall I not then be stifled in the Vault? 1665 Phil. Trans. I. 44 Fearing to be stifled by the bad Air. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 326 You may smoke or stifle them [wasps] if they are in a hollow Tree. 1756 Gray Let. Poems (1775) 245 A dirty inconvenient lodging, where, perhaps, my nurse might stifle me with a pillow. 1834 Croker in C. Papers (1884) 11 June, One poor little boy..was nearly stifled. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) I. App. 741 For fear of a tumult the King has Eadric at once stifled to death. |
b. In hyperbolic or exaggerated use. Sometimes = to affect with difficulty of breathing, produce a choking sensation in.
| c 1400 Brut 138 Þere was grete hete{ddd}þat al stuffled himself was, & felle into a grete sikenesse. 1585 Greene Planetomachia ii. C 3, The Caspians fearinge to bee stiffled with sweet sauors, weare in their bosomes buds of Hemlock. 1592 Arden of Feversham iv. ii. 35, I am almost stifled with this fog. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, iv. i. 58, I am stifled With the meere ranknesse of their ioy. 1625 in Foster Eng. Factories Ind. (1909) III. 56 To pack and stiffle us togeather into close and aireles, unholsom corners. 1767 Woman of Fashion I. 41 Bundled up in a green Cloth Joseph, enough to stifle the poor Child in this warm Weather. 1824 L. M. Hawkins Annaline I. 87 They..found the Baronet nearly stifled with laughing. 1832 H. Martineau Ireland ii. 23 He almost stifled her with caresses. |
c. absol.
| 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 313 But prayer against his absolute Decree No more availes then breath against the winde, Blown stifling back on him that breaths it forth. 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 613 A breathless burthen of low⁓folded heavens Stifled and chill'd at once. |
d. fig.
| 1579 Lyly Euphues Wks. (Bond) I. 248 When loue tickleth thee decline it lest it stiffle thee. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. xi. 398 The Anabaptists in like manner stifle Gods Church by crowding it into their corner. 1878 B. Taylor Deukalion ii. iv. 79 Breathing high thoughts unconsciously as air; Without them stifled! |
† 2. To choke by compressing the windpipe; to strangle, throttle. Obs.
| 1548 Elyot's Dict., Oblido,..to styfle, to kyll. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. vii, [Him] they condemned to be hanged & stifled vpon the maste of the gallie. |
† b. ? To numb (a limb of the body) by arresting the circulation. Obs.
| 1548 [see stifling vbl. n.1]. 1632 Lithgow Trav. v. 205, I would often fetch a walke, to stretch my legs, that were stifled with a stumbling beast. |
† c. To cause stricture or strangulation in (a part). Obs.
| 1578 [see stifling vbl. n.1]. |
† d. To choke, crush the life out of (a plant). Obs.
| 1530 Tindale Pract. Prelates C viij b, [The ivy] waxeth greate..and sucketh the moystoure so sore out of the tre and his braunches, that it choketh and stifleth them. |
† 3. To suffocate by immersion; to drown. Also to choke by pouring water down the throat. Obs.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VI. 449 A monke..fil doun of a brigge into a water, and was i-stufled [v.r. y-stoffed; L. suffocatus est]. 1582 N. T. (Rhem.) Mark v. 13 The heard..were stifled in the sea. 1601 Holland Pliny xxx. iv. II. 377 The hony wherein a number of bees were stifled and killed. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 509 There are other kind of moustraps which do ketch mice aliue: and othersome which do kil them, either being..stifeld with water, or otherwise. 1624 Relat. Cruel Proc. Amboyna 11 Being a little recouered, they..poured in the water as before, eftsoones taking him downe as he seemed to be stifled. 1705 tr. Bosman's Guinea 346 She despairing threw her self into a deep Well, in which she was stifled. |
4. To stop the passage of (the breath); to suppress, prevent the emission of, choke in the utterance (the voice, a cry, sob, cough, etc.). Also poet. with up. Also in figurative context.
| c 1495 Epit. Dk. Bedford in Skelton's Wks. (1843) II. 391 Dredeful Deth..Ful dolorously his breth hath stifild. 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. iii. v, Then stifling a sigh or two,..you aduance your selfe forward. 1601 Marston, etc. Jack Drum's Entert. i. A 4 b, I was not borne..To choake and stifle vp my pleasures breath. 1665 Howard Ind. Queen v. i, Name thy bold Love no more, lest that last Breath Which should forgive, I stifle with my Death. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 158 ¶4 As if she would if possible stifle her Laughter. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. II. Case of Delicacy, I did not attempt to stifle my cough. a 1770 Jortin Serm. (1771) II. iii. 47 Men..take pains to..stifle the reproofs of their conscience. 1837 Disraeli Venetia i. xviii, Cadurcis tried to stifle a sob. 1868 C. M. Yonge Cameos I. xl. 344 His last cry, ere the flames stifled his voice. 1885 Manch. Exam. 12 Sept. 5/2 He attempted to raise an alarm, but they stifled his cries. 1902 Buchan Watcher by Threshold 250 Stifling the voice of conscience. |
† b. To repress, keep back, check the flow of (tears).
| c 1677 Sir P. Warwick Mem. (1701) 326, I never saw him shed tears but once,..but he recollected himselfe, and soon stifled them. 1797 E. Inchbald Wives as they were i. i. 20 They'll suppose I have been more indiscreet [stifling her tears] than I really have. |
c. To make mute or inaudible through intervening space or obstructing medium.
| 1833 H. Martineau Charmed Sea i. 4 Our voices were stifled in space. 1867 Morris Jason iii. 247 The man whose shout the close Nemean trees Had stifled. 1891 Kipling Light that failed v. 83 The fog..stifled the roar of the traffic of London beyond the railings. |
5. In various figurative uses. a. To suppress, smother, keep from manifestation, expression, or activity (a feeling, passion, internal faculty, etc.).
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 428 Their former piety was after a manner stifled. 1654 Jer. Taylor Real Pres. 26 It is an usual device amongst their writers to stifle their reason. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. xlviii. V. 26 In the mind of Irene, ambition had stifled every sentiment of humanity. 1849–50 Alison Hist. Europe li. §52. VIII. 280 The discontent of Melzi..was stifled by the title of Duke of Lodi. 1876 Mozley Univ. Serm. xv. 258 The higher mind in us is stifled and gives way to the lower. |
b. To destroy, crush, suppress, deprive of vitality, prevent the working or spreading of (a movement, activity, measure, etc.); † to silence (a person, objection).
| 1621 H. Elsing Debates Ho. Lords (Camden) 102 The proviso for the prynters styfles the proviso for corporacions. 1668 R. Steele Husbandm. Calling v. (1672) 76 Let not your faith stifle your industry. 1693 J. E. Edwards Author. O. & N. Test. 410, I will stifle this cavelling objection. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4168/2 This Insurrection was stifled in its very beginning. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 2 Apr. (1815) 7 As it was my duty to stifle this correspondence in its birth. 1857 Buckle Civiliz. I. xii. 671 It was a prolonged and systematic attempt to stifle all enquiry and punish all inquirers. a 1873 Deutsch Lit. Rem. (1874) 172 The Koran for a time seemed to stifle all literature. 1884 L'pool Mercury 22 Oct. 5/3 This..is the very way to stifle all efforts. |
c. To conceal, keep from becoming known, withhold from circulation or currency, suppress (a fact, report, truth, etc.; a document, letter).
| 1577 Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. vii. 26 b/2 in Holinshed, When hys [sc. Plunket's] workes shall take the ayre, that now..are wrongfully emprisoned, and in maner stiefled in shadowed cowches. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ ii. v. §2 The other rank of those which were left to Gods hand consisted of these. 1. He that stifles and smothers his own prophecy, as Jonas did. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 103 When complaints are brought to Court against any Chan, he lets them come to the King's Ear if the Chan be his Enemy, or stiffles them if the Chan be his friend. 1700 Congreve Way of World v. ii, We stifl'd the Letter before she read so far. 1712 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 383 That Dr. Mill made a Will, and that Langhorn, or some body else, stifled it. 1788 Franklin Autobiog. Wks. 1840 I. 209 The papers, he thought of too much value to be stifled, and advised the printing of them. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth xv, The rumour may stifle the truth for a short time. |
d. To cover up so as to conceal from view or prevent display. poet.
| 1820 Keats Hyperion i. 245 The shady visions come to domineer, Insult, and blind, and stifle up my pomp. |
6. To smother or extinguish (a flame).
| 1726 Swift Gulliver i. v, I might easily have stifled it [the flame] with my coat. 1851 Hazlitt tr. Huc's Tartary xvi. (1856) 401 All the travellers, armed with felt carpets, were endeavouring to stifle the flame. 1895 ‘G. Mortimer’ Tales West. Moors 260 The smoke is choking and pungent, as it jets out through the damp, black earth that ‘stiffles’, or stifles, the flames. |
† b. To extinguish or quench (a physical quality).
| 1725 Bradley's Family Dict. s.v. Salt, The Salt made White in this manner is not so salt as the Grey, because the Fire has stifled many of its Points. |
† 7. To choke up, impede the flow of (running water); to obstruct the passage of, absorb, quench (rays of light). Obs.
| 1629 H. C. Disc. Drain. Fens B 4, The riuers [being] stifled with weedes for want of a current. 1704 Newton Optics i. ii. x (1721) 161 They [coloured bodies] stop and stifle in themselves the Rays which they do not reflect or transmit. 1785 J. Imison Sch. Arts (1790) I. 194 Its back part is black, to stifle the rays that are reflected upon it. 1794 Herschel in Phil. Trans. LXXXV. 54, I found, that by stifling a great part of the solar rays, my object speculum would bear a greater aperture. |
† 8. To choke up (an orifice). Obs. rare—1.
| 1631 Shirley Traitor iii. i. (1635) E 2, Make fast the Chamber-doore, stiffle the keyhole and the crannies, I must discourse of secret matters. |
† 9. To slip (money) secretly or surreptitiously in (a person's hand). (? A jocular or cant use.) Obs.
| 1604 Middleton Ant & Night. D 2, With that they stifeled two or three Angels in the lawyers right hand. |
10. intr. To be or become suffocated; to perish by stoppage of breath. In weaker sense: To feel in danger of suffocation, to feel almost unable to breathe.
| 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 363 We cary about vs infinite causes and meanes, whereby we are euery houre in danger of stifling, and as it were of drowning. 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre xv, I was just beginning to stifle with the fumes of conservatory flowers and sprinkled essences. 1857 J. Hamilton Less. Gt. Biogr. (1859) 314 To feel the breath stifling and the heart-strings breaking. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 26 Mar. 2/1 Others cannot remain in an atmosphere that is not constantly replenished with fresh oxygen; they stifle. |
† b. fig. Of a person or an immaterial thing.
| 1588 T. Hughes Arthur i. i. 14 What though..the shame thou suffredst for his lusts, Reboundeth backe, and stifeleth in his stocke? 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. iv. 158 My vnsoild Name [etc.] Will so your accusation ouer-weigh, That you shall stifle in your owne report. |
▪ IV. stifle, v.2 Farriery.
(ˈstaɪf(ə)l)
Also 6–8 stiffle.
[f. stifle n.1]
trans. To affect (a horse, dog, etc.) with stifle or dislocation of the stifle-bone. Chiefly in pass. Hence ˈstifled ppl. a.
| 1580 Blundevil Curing Horses Dis. cxxiv. 56 b, The Horse is said to be stiffled when the stiffling bone is remooued from the right place. But if it be not remooued nor losened, and yet the Horse halteth by meanes of some griefe there, then we say that the Horse is hurt in the stiffle, and not stiffled. 1607 Markham Cavel. vii. lxxvi. 77 If hee halt behinde, he is hipped or stiffled, if he be hipped hee is past cure, if stifled [etc.]. 1639 T. de la Grey Compl. Horsem. (1656) 595 Take a cord and fasten it to the pastern of the stifled legge. 1685 Dangerfield Mem. 7 Mar. 32, I went..thence to Ashfield, where I Stifled my Horse. 1859 H. H. Dixon Silk & Scarlet 325 But we are forgetting Tarquin [a foxhound], who became stifled at Berkeley. |