Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SILENCE, v.t.

1. To oblige to hold the peace; to restrain from noise or speaking.
2. To still; to quiet; to restrain; to appease. This would silence all further opposition. – Clarendon. These would have silenced their scruples. – Rogers.
3. To stop; as, to silence complaints or clamor.
4. To still; to cause to cease firing; as, to silence guns or a battery.
5. To restrain from preaching by revoking a license to preach; as, to silence a minister of the Gospel. – United States. The Rev. Thomas Booker, of Chelmsford in Essex, was silenced for non-conformity. – B. Trumbull.
6. To put an end to; to cause to cease. The question between agriculture and commerce has received a decision which has silenced the rivalships between them. – Hamilton.