stifler
(ˈstaɪflə(r))
[f. stifle v.1 + -er1.]
One who or something which stifles, suffocates, smothers, suppresses, etc.
| 1642 H. More Song of Soul ii. iii. ii. xv, You stiflers now be gone. Let fall that smoring mantle. 1829 Scott Demonol. 267 Lord-keeper Guildford was also a stifler of the proceedings against witches. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop viii, My best affections have experienced, this night, a stifler. 1879 Geo. Eliot Theo. Such xviii. 347 We have to consider who are the stifled people and who the stiflers. |
b. Thieves' slang. The gallows.
| 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxiii, I think Handie Dandie and I may queer the stifler for all that is come and gone. |
c. Mil. slang. = camouflet 1.
| 1836 Penny Cycl. VI. 197/1 Camouflet, or Stifler. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. |