Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Suffocate \Suf"fo*cate\, v. i.
To become choked, stifled, or smothered. ``A swelling
discontent is apt to suffocate and strangle without
passage.''
--collier.
Suffocate \Suf"fo*cate\, a. [L. suffocatus, p. p. of suffocare
to choke; sub under + fauces the throat. Cf. Faucal.]
Suffocated; choked.
--Shak.
Suffocate \Suf"fo*cate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Suffocated; p. pr. & vb. n. Suffocating.]
-
To choke or kill by stopping respiration; to stifle; to smother.
Let not hemp his windpipe suffocate.
--Shak. To destroy; to extinguish; as, to suffocate fire.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
early 15c. (transitive), "deprive of air, choke, kill by preventing access of air to the lungs," also figurative, "stifle, smother, extinguish," from Latin suffocatus, past participle of suffocare "to choke" (see suffocation). Intransitive use, "become choked, stifled, or smothered," is from 1702. Related: Suffocated; suffocating.
Wiktionary
(context obsolete English) Suffocated; choked. v
1 (context ergative English) To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body. 2 (context ergative English) To die due to, or kill someone by means of, insufficient oxygen supply to the body. 3 (context ergative figuratively English) To overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation. 4 (context transitive English) To destroy; to extinguish.
WordNet
v. deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing; "Othello smothered Desdemona with a pillow"; "The child suffocated herself with a plastic bag that the parents had left on the floor" [syn: smother, asphyxiate]
impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of; "The foul air was slowly suffocating the children" [syn: stifle, asphyxiate, choke]
become stultified, suppressed, or stifled; "He is suffocating--living at home with his aged parents in the small village" [syn: choke]
suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of; "His job suffocated him" [syn: choke]
be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen; "The child suffocated under the pillow" [syn: stifle, asphyxiate]
feel uncomfortable for lack of fresh air; "The room was hot and stuffy and we were suffocating"
struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake; "he swallowed a fishbone and gagged" [syn: gag, choke, strangle]
Wikipedia
"Suffocate" is a song by American R&B singer J. Holiday. It is the third single released from his debut album Back of My Lac'. The song was released as a digital download and sent to mainly urban radio stations. "Suffocate" debuted at number 96 on the Billboard and eventually peaked at number 18.
"Suffocate" is the fourth single by British glam rock band King Adora. The single was released on 19 February 2001 on Superior Quality Recordings and reached number 39 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the band's first Top 40 single. The song would be included as the closing track on the band's debut album, Vibrate You and frequently closed their live shows.
"Suffocate" is the debut single by American industrial metal band Motograter. The song was featured in the 2003 remake to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
"Suffocate" is a track by UK rock band Feeder re-recorded from their 1997 album Polythene, and was released as an in-between single to bridge the gap between the then-current album, and its follow-up Yesterday Went Too Soon. Feeder would later repeat this in-between single process building up to a following album, with " Just a Day" in 2001 and " Shatter" / " Tender" in 2005. The single reached the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 37.
The version of "Suffocate" released as a single is a full-band version of the acoustic track from the "Polythene" album, with slightly amended lyrics. The song began life in 1994 as part of the band's demo under the name "Give". At that time the band were called "Real". At the time of its single release, Grant Nicholas said that he wanted to revisit the song.
Frontman Grant also once said that "Give" was the song that secured the band's record deal, which in turn was one of the reasons for its inclusion on The Singles.
Usage examples of "suffocate".
There was no light save the light shed abroad by the flashes of the blade, and in these they beheld the air suffocated with Afrites and Genii in a red and brown and white heat, followers of Karaz.
He then rendered it suffocating by closing the amado, for the reason often given, that if he left them open and the house was robbed, the police would not only blame him severely, but would not take any trouble to recover his property.
Did Octavian have asthma, it makes everything that happened to him during that campaign in Macedonia logical, including his fleeing to the sea breezes and cleaner air of the salt marshes while dry ground was fogged by a suffocating pall of chaffy dust.
Must save chlorate cubes, so am nearly suffocating for lack of oxygen.
He recalled one of his stokers, the old man Ilya, who, for ten copecks, used to be on watch at the fireplace out of his turn, working for a comrade eight hours in succession, amid suffocating heat.
I have never been able to understand how in Germany the ladies, otherwise so polite and delicate, could inhale the suffocating fumes of a crowd of smokers.
By their extreme disaccord with her mental condition these words produced on her a slightly suffocating effect.
It became a creeping disease of the body, enfeebling every function, choking, suffocating.
Sooty, suffocating flames enveloped the tank, but the crew remained in action.
No wonder he felt suffocated, the Fam had decided to honor him by sleeping on him.
My greatest sorrow was the heart-grief of Therese who, seeing me torn from her arms at the very moment of our union, was suffocated by the tears which she tried to repress.
Betty was dressed with all decency and neatness, but I had taken off my coat on account of the suffocating heat.
He felt suddenly like he was suffocating, moved outside, tried to breathe, but the air was no cooler.
And the flame of love, long fanned by the forced draught of doctrine, but now suffocated by the general obtuseness of the beings to one another, was reduced to an occasional smoldering warmth, which was most often mistaken for mere lust.
When a normal person, some normal innocent person who sure as hell deserved a lot better, when she comes home from waiting tables all day and finds her husband suffocated in the family car, his bladder leaking, and she screams, this is simply her orbicularis oris stretched to the very limit.