Definitions
1.verbTo interrupt or cut off.
2.verbTo repress, keep in or hold back."The army stifled the rebellion."
3.verbTo smother or suffocate."The heat was stifling the children."
4.verbTo feel smothered etc."The heat felt stifling."
5.verbTo die of suffocation."Two firemen tragically stifled in yesterday's fire when trying to rescue an old lady from her bedroom."
6.verbTo treat a silkworm cocoon with steam as part of the process of silk production.
7.nounThe act by which something is stifled.
8.adjectiveThat stifles."The heat was stifling; it seemed hard to breathe and the exertion of rolling over on the bed seemed too much."