Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SUF'FO-CATE, v.t. [Fr. suffoquer; It. suffogare; Sp. sufocar; L. suffoco; sub and focus, or its root.]

1. To choke or kill by stopping respiration. Respiration may be stopped by the interception of air, as in hanging and strangling, or by the introduction of smoke, dust or mephitic or air into the lungs. Men may be suffocated by the halter; or men may be suffocated in smoke or in carbonic acid gas, as in mines and wells. And let not hemp his windpipe suffocate. – Shak.
2. To stifle; to destroy; to extinguish; as, to suffocate fires or live coals. A swelling discontent is apt to suffocate and strangle without passage. – Collier.