stiffness (stifnes)

[ stiff-tailed (stif'tāld), a. Having rigid rectrices or tail-feathers denuded to the base; erismaturine: specifically noting ducks of the genus Erismatura. stiflel (sti'fl), v.; pret. and pp. stifled, ppr. sti fling. [Early mod. E. also stifil; =Sw. styfva = Dan. stive = ME. stiven, stiffen: see stivel, stiff, v. The word was prob. confused with E. stive2, Make fast the chamber door, stifle the keyhole and the Shirley, Traitor, iii. 1. crannies. 2. To kill by impeding respiration, as by covering the mouth and nose, by introducing an irrespirable substance into the lungs, or by other means; suffocate or greatly oppre by foul air or otherwise; smother. Sure, if I had not pinch'd you 'till you wak'd, you had stifled me with Ki es. Congreve, Old Batchelor, ii. 3. I took my leave, being half stifled with the closene of the room. Swift , Account of Partridge's Death. 3. To stop the pa age of; arrest the free action of; extinguish; deaden; quench: as, to stifle flame; to stifle sound. They [colored bodies) stop and stifle in themselves the rays, which they do not reflect or transmit. Newton, Opticks, I. ii. x. And smell of calumny. Shak., M. for M., ii. 4. 158. stifle2 (sti'fl), n. [Formerly also stiffle ; appar. If the horse bee but hurt in the stiffle with some stripe or straine. Top sell , Four-Footed Beasts (1607), p. 405. ( Hall i well .) 2. Disease or other affection of the stifle-bone or stifle-joint, as dislocation or fracture of the patella. stifle-bone (sti'fl-bōn), n. The patella of the horse; the kneepan, kneecap, or bone of the stifle-joint.