(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
1.
If you ~ a fire, you cover it with something in order to put it out.
The girl’s parents were also burned as they tried to ~ the flames.
VERB: V n
2.
To ~ someone means to kill them by covering their face with something so that they cannot breathe.
A father was secretly filmed as he tried to ~ his six-week-old son in hospital.
= suffocate
VERB: V n
3.
Things that ~ something cover it completely.
Once the shrubs begin to ~ the little plants, we have to move them.
VERB: V n
4.
If you ~ someone, you show your love for them too much and protect them too much.
She loved her own children, almost ~ing them with love.
VERB: V n
5.
If you ~ an emotion or a reaction, you control it so that people do not notice it.
She summoned up all her pity for him, to ~ her self-pity.
...~ed giggles.
= stifle
VERB: V n, V-ed
6.
If an activity or process is ~ed, it is prevented from continuing or developing.
Intellectual life in France was ~ed by the occupation...
The debts of both Poland and Hungary are beginning to ~ the reform process.
= stifle
VERB: be V-ed, V n