suffocation

[Fr. from Lat.sufocationem, accusative of suffocatio, from suffocatus = suffocate (q. v.); Sp. suffocacion; Ital. suffocazione.] 1. The act of suffocating, choking, or smothering. "Slaine, I call heere, whosoeuer he be, man, woman, or childe, that violently commeth to his death, whether it be by knife, poyson, cord, drowning, burning, sufocation or otherwise." -Smith ; Commonwealth , bk. ii., ch. xxiii. 2. The state of being suffocated, choked, or smothered; death by being suffocated. "It was a miracle to scape suffocation ." --Shakesp.: Merry Wives, iii. 5.