suffocate

verb

1. (ergative)To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.

   “Open the hatch, he is suffocating in the airlock!”

   “It is because of freedom, one netizen replied: Like air, you may not realize its importance, but when suffocating, you would know how precious it is.”

2. (ergative)To die due to, or kill someone by means of, insufficient oxygen supply to the body.

   “He suffocated his wife by holding a pillow over her head.”

   “Let not hemp his windpipe suffocate.”

3. (ergative, figuratively)To overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation.

   “I'm suffocating under this huge workload.”

   “If the trend to private cars continues, the more quickly will the road traffic suffocate itself, [...].”

4. (transitive)To destroy; to extinguish.

   “to suffocate fire”

adj

1. (obsolete)Suffocated, choked.
2. (obsolete)Smothered, overwhelmed.

   “This chaos, when degree is suffocate, follows the choking”