crush vs stifle

crush

verb
  • To oppress or grievously burden. 

  • To press between two hard objects; to squeeze so as to alter the natural shape or integrity, or to force together into a mass. 

  • To reduce to fine particles by pounding or grinding. 

  • To be or become broken down or in, or pressed into a smaller volume or area, by external weight or force. 

  • To feel infatuation or unrequited love. 

  • To give a compressed or foreshortened appearance to. 

  • To overwhelm by pressure or weight. 

  • To make certain colors so similar as to be hard to distinguish, either as a deliberate effect or as a limitation of a display. 

  • To do impressively well at (sports events; performances; interviews; etc.). 

  • To overcome completely; to subdue totally. 

noun
  • A standing stock or cage with movable sides used to restrain livestock for safe handling. 

  • The human object of such infatuation or affection. 

  • A crowd that produces uncomfortable pressure. 

  • The process of crushing cane to remove the raw sugar, or the season when this process takes place. 

  • A violent collision or compression; a crash; destruction; ruin. 

  • A group or gang. 

  • A crowd control barrier. 

  • The situation where certain colors are so similar as to be hard to distinguish, either as a deliberate effect or as a limitation of a display. 

  • A paraphilia involving arousal from seeing things destroyed by crushing. 

  • A violent crowding. 

  • A drink made by squeezing the juice out of fruit. 

  • Violent pressure, as of a moving crowd. 

  • An infatuation with somebody one is not dating. 

stifle

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

  • 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 feel smothered; to find it difficult to breathe. 

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

  • To die of suffocation. 

  • 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 crush and stifle occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )