(v. t.) To destroy the life of by suffocation; to deprive of the air necessary for life; to cover up closely so as to prevent breathing; to suffocate; as, to smother a child.
(v. t.) To affect as by suffocation; to stife; to deprive of air by a thick covering, as of ashes, of smoke, or the like; as, to smother a fire.
(v. t.) Hence, to repress the action of; to cover from public view; to suppress; to conceal; as, to smother one's displeasure.
(v. i.) To be suffocated or stifled.
(v. i.) To burn slowly, without sufficient air; to smolder.
(v. t.) Stifling smoke; thick dust.
(v. t.) A state of suppression.
Example Sentences:
(1) As attorneys who practice asylum law, we believe deeply in our nation’s obligation to provide real protection to refugees, but the Obama administration’s willful disregard of existing asylum laws and procedures – and its smothering of due process with detention and rapid deportation – is truly appalling.
(2) Brad Guzan produced a superb save to deny Ayew, rushing off his line to smother a left-foot shot from six yards out, and 33 seconds later the Swansea forward’s brother had the ball in the net at the other end.
(3) Conveniently, it is not far from the Via Algarviana , allowing us to leave the car and hike the stretch to Alte (16km), passing shuttered houses smothered in creepers in old, abandoned villages.
(4) Buffon's understudy Marchetti gets down brilliantly to smother the cross.
(5) Instead, the least attractive aspects of London 2012, the ZiL lanes and the Visa-only policy and McDonald's and Coca-Cola as purveyors of sustenance to a sporting nation, were smothered not only by the competition but by the ocean of good humour fostered by the joviality of the volunteers, the inspirational architecture and the attention given to the natural landscape (with apologies to those who had to move to make room for it all).
(6) Later, when it was realised that pieces of aluminium and magnesium among this waste could catch fire and cause widespread contamination, inert argon gas had to be pumped in to smother potential blazes.
(7) Updated at 5.30pm BST 5.13pm BST Game and second set to Roger Federer Rewind the clocks and smother the future , the venerable Roger Federer isn't Wimbledon history yet.
(8) Our descent into Delhi was delayed because of fog, we were told, but the nicotine-coloured blanket smothering this dynamic Indian city was a malignant smog.
(9) Bayern are braced for their visitors to employ similar tactics to those that deflated Barcelona in their semi-final, a smothering defence and bite on the break game-plan that has drawn local criticism in print from Günter Netzer and Matthias Sammer.
(10) The wall of ice that rises behind Sermilik fjord stretches for 1,500 miles (2,400km) from north to south and smothers 80% of this country.
(11) The decision by the MP for Mid Bedfordshire to become the first serving MP to take part in the show, which features famous faces performing in stunts that in the past have included being smothered in insects and eating a kangaroo's penis, could keep her from parliamentary and constituency business for a month.
(12) Hazard is sent off for kicking the ball under a ballboy attempting to smother the ball rather than return it.
(13) The forward bustled in, stealing the ball and holding off the centre-half as he attempted to wrest it back, before ripping a glorious shot from a horribly tight angle into the far top corner as Ben Foster edged out to smother.
(14) He's never quite in control, though, and his attempted lift into the net is smothered by the outrushing Ospina.
(15) Before he came to the UK, Darius trained in Poland, learning how to perform a cut-throat shave by smothering an inflated balloon in shaving foam and then removing it with a single blade.
(16) Sediment can smother seagrasses, which are the key food source of dugongs and sea turtles, and damage corals.
(17) White supremacy in America won’t let our black young children be kids, swim or receive congratulations while graduating without having the breath, light and life smothered right out of them.
(18) Liverpool had threatened only sporadically, although Kasper Schmeichel did make a decent save to smother Coutinho’s shot.
(19) The Quagga mussel ( Dreissena rostriformis bugensis ), which was found in the river Wraysbury on 1 October and can cover boat hulls and smother native mussels to death, is just one of a group of freshwater species that has been spreading westward from the Ponto-Caspian region in south-east Europe in recent years and which risk causing a “meltdown” as they invade Britain.
(20) It added: "We have long argued that stamp duty is a tax on aspiration that smothered the natural demand of the market.
Stifle
Definition:
(n.) 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.
(v. t.) 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.
(v. t.) To stop; to extinguish; to deaden; to quench; as, to stifle the breath; to stifle a fire or flame.
(v. t.) To suppress the manifestation or report of; to smother; to conceal from public knowledge; as, to stifle a story; to stifle passion.
(v. i.) To die by reason of obstruction of the breath, or because some noxious substance prevents respiration.
Example Sentences:
(1) I would like to see the return to a free university system for Australian students so everybody can have the same dreams and aspirations about bettering themselves and this nation, regardless of their circumstances.” Palmer said Australia’s best thinkers were being “stifled” and the country was “burying them in debt”.
(2) The stifles were frozen in slight flexion, then cut into 1-cm sagittal sections.
(3) 'Azerbaijan is turning into a dictatorship – we shouldn't fall for its caviar diplomacy' Read more The crowded courtroom was growing increasing stifling as the air-conditioner could not cope with mid-August heat.
(4) In addition, two dogs received intra-articular injections of autologous blood into their right stifle joint and saline into their left stifle joint.
(5) But whatever positions are put forward, we must ensure democracy is not stifled.
(6) What about the chilling effects of libel tourism and a system that both adds cost to stories and stifles freedom of expression?
(7) For long periods Argentina had been stifled by a fine counterpunching opposition, but it would be a little hasty to fret too much about them after this performance.
(8) Property taxes stifle investment and they contribute to businesses closing.” He said 66% of the properties featured on the list had appealed against their business rates.
(9) My role in these later manifestations of silence was that of aiding her in the articulation of hopes and wishes, stifled since early childhood because of an unfortunate series of abandonments and experiences of humiliation.
(10) A modified Ilizarov external fixator was used to transfix the stifle joint in 13 dogs.
(11) Peter Wilmshurst and his family enter the normal world blinking from the bright light of a case that is over" Wilmshurst was under no illusions as to the possibly disastrous financial outcome for himself and his family, but refused to back down in the face of a libel suit he believed was an attempt to silence valid criticism and stifle scientific debate.
(12) The development of elastic-system fibers in human vocal cord is characterized by every stage of maturation, whether normal, stifled or accelerated, according to areas.
(13) The English have escaped from the stifling post-imperial malaise to provide a political and economic system which is both continuous and dynamic, attracting capital and enterprise from all over the world.
(14) We are particularly grateful for our colleagues across the world who supported the Guardian in circumstances which threatened to stifle our reporting.
(15) The incident is the latest dispute between Belarus and western nations, in particular EU states that have challenged the former Soviet country and its longtime leader, Alexander Lukashenko , over a perceived stifling of human rights.
(16) In addition, a drawer sign was present in the stifle of 14 animals 31 days after surgery.
(17) It is said, for example, that tighter curbs would stifle innovation, although this theory appears not to be true for any other branch of modern capitalism.
(18) The death toll was worst in old peoples' homes and (less surprisingly) in stifling cities where the old, friendless and abandoned succumbed to the heat in anonymous apartments.
(19) Inside the carriage the temperature was stifling, the stench of unwashed bodies and stale urine overwhelming.
(20) "Telecoms is a very good example: for a long time, we had a government monopoly, which stifled innovation, and the service was poor.