(rare) An act or state of being stifled.

(zootomy) The joint between the femur and tibia in the hind leg of various four-legged mammals, especially horses, corresponding to the knee in humans.

(veterinary medicine) A bone disease of this region.

(transitive, also figurative) To make (an animal or person) unconscious or cause (an animal or person) death by preventing breathing; to smother, to suffocate.

(transitive, hyperbolic) To cause (someone) difficulty in breathing, or a choking or gagging feeling.

(transitive, also figurative) To prevent (a breath, cough, or cry, or the voice, etc.) from being released from the throat.

(transitive) To make (something) unable to be heard by blocking it with some medium.

(transitive, figurative) To stifle means to keep in, hold back, or repress something, as well as to prevent something from being revealed, concealed, hidden, or suppressed.

(transitive, agriculture (sericulture)) To treat (a silkworm cocoon) with steam as part of the process of silk production.

(intransitive) To die of suffocation.

(intransitive, hyperbolic) To feel smothered; to find it difficult to breathe.

(transitive) To cause (a dog, horse, or other four-legged mammal) to dislocate or sprain its stifle joint.