Both Uses of
stifle
in
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
- Disguise it, struggle with it, beat it down, stifle it, mortify it as much as one pleases, it is still alive, and will every now and then peep out and show itself; you will see it, perhaps, often in this history; for, even if I could conceive that I had compleatly overcome it, I should probably be proud of my humility.†
*stifle = suppress (prevent something or decrease its development)
- The papers, however, being shown to Dr. Fothergill, he thought them of too much value to be stifled, and advis'd the printing of them.†
Definitions:
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(1)
(stifle as in: stifling the urge) to suppress (prevent something or decrease its development) -- often political freedom
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(2)
(stifle as in: the heat is stifling) to make breathing difficult or impossible -- often from heat or humidity
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(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
Much more rarely, to stifle is used in the context of anatomy to refer to a four-legged animal's equivalent of the human knee (the joint between the upper and lower leg).