étouffer — meaning in English
French → English · translate English → French instead
English meaning
- choke verb To be unable to breathe because something is blocking the throat or windpipe.
- muffle noun Anything that mutes or deadens sound.
- smother verb To cover something so completely that it cannot get air, cutting off its breathing or, for a fire, its oxygen.
- stew noun A dish of meat and vegetables cooked slowly together in liquid.
- stifle verb To suppress or hold back something such as a sound, feeling, or reaction.
- suffocate verb To die, or cause someone to die, from lack of oxygen.
Senses
étouffer is used for these senses in English:
- choke (intransitive) To be unable to breathe because of obstruction of the windpipe (for instance food or other objects that go down the wrong way, or fumes or particles in the air that cause the throat to constrict).
- choke (transitive) To prevent (someone) from breathing or talking by strangling or filling the windpipe.
- muffle (transitive, dated) To prevent seeing, or hearing, or speaking, by wraps bound about the head; to blindfold; to deafen.
- stew (intransitive, figuratively) To suffer under uncomfortably hot conditions.
- suffocate (ergative) To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.
- swelter (intransitive) To suffer terribly from intense heat.
choke — full definition
- verb To be unable to breathe because something is blocking the throat or windpipe.
- verb To squeeze someone's throat so they cannot breathe; to strangle.
- verb To perform badly under pressure at a crucial moment, especially when close to winning.
- noun A valve that adjusts the fuel-air mixture in an engine, especially to help start it when cold.
muffle — full definition
- noun Anything that mutes or deadens sound.
- noun A warm piece of clothing for the hands.
- noun A boxing glove.
- noun A kiln or furnace, often electric, with no direct flames (a muffle furnace)