Both Uses of
stifle
in
A Passage to India
- They would have revived in any case, for he possessed a soul that could suffer but not stifle, and led a steady life beneath his mutability.†
Chpt 6 *stifle = suppress (prevent something or decrease its development)
- They rise from the gardens where ancient tanks nourish them, they burst out of stifling purlieus and unconsidered temples.†
Chpt 1
Definitions:
-
(1)
(stifle as in: stifling the urge) to suppress (prevent something or decrease its development) -- often political freedom
-
(2)
(stifle as in: the heat is stifling) to make breathing difficult or impossible -- often from heat or humidity
-
(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).