hide vs stifle

hide

verb
  • To put oneself in a place where one will be harder to find or out of sight. 

  • To put (something) in a place where it will be harder to discover or out of sight. 

  • To beat with a whip made from hide. 

noun
  • A secret room for hiding oneself or valuables; a hideaway. 

  • The skin of an animal. 

  • (mainly British) A covered structure from which hunters, birdwatchers, etc can observe animals without scaring them. 

  • One's own life or personal safety, especially when in peril. 

  • A covered structure to which a pet animal can retreat, as is recommended for snakes. 

  • A unit of land and tax assessment of varying size, originally as intended to support one household with dependents. 

stifle

verb
  • To feel smothered; to find it difficult to breathe. 

  • To prevent (a breath, cough, or cry, or the voice, etc.) from being released from the throat. 

  • To make (something) unable to be heard by blocking it with some medium. 

  • To prevent (something) from being revealed; to conceal, to hide, to suppress. 

  • To cause (someone) difficulty in breathing, or a choking or gagging feeling. 

  • To cause (a dog, horse, or other four-legged mammal) to dislocate or sprain its stifle joint. 

  • To die of suffocation. 

  • To keep in, hold back, or repress (something). 

  • To make (an animal or person) unconscious or cause (an animal or person) death by preventing breathing; to smother, to suffocate. 

  • To treat (a silkworm cocoon) with steam as part of the process of silk production. 

noun
  • An act or state of being stifled. 

  • A bone disease of this region. 

  • The joint between the femur and tibia in the hind leg of various four-legged mammals, especially horses, corresponding to the knee in humans. 

How often have the words hide and stifle occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )