stifle

Short definition from Wiktionary

Verb

1. 1
   To make (an animal or person) unconscious or cause (an animal or person) death by preventing breathing; to smother, to suffocate.
2. 2
   To cause (someone) difficulty in breathing, or a choking or gagging feeling.
3. 3
   To prevent (a breath, cough, or cry, or the voice, etc.) from being released from the throat.
4. 4
   To make (something) unable to be heard by blocking it with some medium.
5. 5
   To keep in, hold back, or repress (something).
6. 6
   To prevent (something) from being revealed; to conceal, to hide, to suppress.
7. 7
   To treat (a silkworm cocoon) with steam as part of the process of silk production.
8. 8
   To die of suffocation.
9. 9
   To smother; to make breathing difficult.
10. 10
    To cause (a dog, horse, or other four-legged mammal) to dislocate or sprain its stifle joint.

Noun

1. 1
   An act or state of being stifled.
2. 2
   The joint between the femur and tibia in the hind leg of various four-legged mammals, especially horses, corresponding to the knee in humans.
3. 3
   A bone disease of this region.