I.to choke, stifle, strangle, suffocate by compressing the throat (rare but class.; syn.: strangulo, elido).
I. Lit.: “patrem,” Cic. Mur. 29, 61: “quem crassior saliva suffocat,” Sen. Q. N. 6, 2, 4: “in melle situm suffocari,” to be suffocated, Lucr. 3, 891: “vox suffocatur saepe,” Quint. 11, 3, 51: “suffocatae (mulieres),” hysterical, Plin. 20, 22, 87, § 238; cf. suffocatio.—
II. Transf.: “injuriā suffocante vitem,” that chokes, kills, Plin. 17, 23, 35, § 209: “urbem et Italiam fame,” i. e. to starve, Cic. Att. 9, 7, 4.
