Other forms: stifling, stifled, stifles
To stifle is to smother something before it grows — a yawn, a laugh, an idea. Stifle a laugh, stifled by the heat, stifle dissent.
It means suppressing at the start rather than stopping later, which is what makes it so apt for laughter and for criticism. Of air it means making it hard to breathe. Note that the origin of the word is unknown, which is unusual for a verb this common.
1verbstifleTo smother something before it grows.
“She stifled a yawn as the speaker went on and on.”
stifle is a smothering.
Also accepted in games: suppress
Late Middle English stuflen is of unknown origin. It may be related to a French word meaning to stop up.
Middle English
stuflen — to have difficulty breathing due to heat, stifle; to suffocate by drowning, drown
English, today
stifle
Built from
The verb is derived from Late Middle English stuflen (“to have difficulty breathing due to heat, stifle; to suffocate by drowning, drown”)stifil, stuffle, stufle; further etymology unknown. Also found in Middle English forstyflyd (“stifled, choked”). Perhaps derived from Middle English stuffen (“to kill by suffocation; to stifle from heat; to extinguish, suppress (body heat, breath, humour, etc.); to deprive a plant of the conditions necessary for growth, choke”) + -elen. Stuffen is derived from Old French estofer, estouffer (“to choke, strangle, suffocate; (figuratively) to inhibit, prevent”)estofiier, estoufer, estufer (modern French étouffer), a variant of estoper, estuper (“to block, plug, stop up; to stiffen, thicken”) (modern French étouper (“to caulk”)), influenced by estofer (“to pad, stuff; to upholster”) (modern French étoffer). Estoper is derived from Vulgar Latin stuppāre, from Latin stuppa (“coarse flax, tow”) (as a stuffing material; from Ancient Greek στύπη, στύππη (compare στυππεῖον); probably from qsb-grc) + -āre. According to the Oxford English Dictionary a derivation from Old Norse stífla (“to dam; to choke, stop up”) “appears untenable on the ground both of form and sense”. The noun is derived from the verb.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA