suf-fōco

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, Lucr. 3, 891: vox suffocatur saepe, Quint. 11, 3, 51: suffocatae (mulieres), Plin. 20, 22, 87, § 238; cf. suffocatio.—

II. Transf.: injuriā suffocante vitem, Plin. 17, 23, 35, § 209: urbem et Italiam fame, Cic. Att. 9, 7, 4.