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"fle (?), v. i. To die by reason of obstruction of the breath, or
because some noxious substance prevents respiration.
You shall stifle in your own report.
Shak.
Sti"fled (?), a. Stifling.
The close and stifled study.
Hawthorne.
Sti"fler (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, stifles.