"stifles" in the noun sense
1. stifle, knee
joint between the femur and tibia in a quadruped corresponds to the human knee
"stifles" in the verb sense
1. smother, stifle, strangle, muffle, repress
suppress in order to conceal or hide
"smother a yawn"
"muffle one's anger"
"strangle a laugh"
"repress a cry of fear"
2. stifle, dampen
suppress or constrain so as to lessen in intensity
"Stifle your curiosity"
3. suffocate, stifle, asphyxiate, choke
impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of
"The foul air was slowly suffocating the children"
4. suffocate, stifle, asphyxiate
be asphyxiated die from lack of oxygen
"The child suffocated under the pillow"
Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)
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