Sti·fle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stifled p. pr. & vb. n. Stifling ]
 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.


 Sti·fled a. Stifling.
    The close and stifled study.   --Hawthorne.

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 stifled
      adj : held in check with difficulty; "a smothered cough"; "a
            stifled yawn"; "a strangled scream"; "suppressed
            laughter" [syn: smothered, strangled, suppressed]