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stifle [stifle 词源字典]: stifle: [14] Stiffle was probably adapted from Old French estouffer ‘choke, smother’. This in turn went back to a Vulgar Latin *extuffāre, which may have been a blend of *extūfāre ‘take a steam bath’ (source of English stew) and late Latin stuppāre ‘stop up, plug’ (source of English stop and stuff).
=> stew, stop, stuff[stifle etymology, stifle origin, 英语词源]
stuff: stuff: [14] Stuff is ultimately the same word as stop. It comes via Old French estoffer and prehistoric Germanic *stopfōn, earlier *stoppōn (source of English stop), from late Latin stuppāre ‘plug, stop up’. This originally denoted literally ‘stop up a hole with a plug of coarse fibres’, for it was derived from Latin stuppa ‘coarse fibres, tow’, a borrowing from Greek stúppē. The noun stuff comes from Old French estoffe ‘provisions’, a derivative of estoffer.
=> stop
wrap: wrap: [14] The antecedents of wrap are a mystery. It has no known Germanic relatives, although it is similar to North Frisian wrappe ‘stop up’ and Danish dialect vrappe ‘stuff’. A possible connection has been suggested with Greek ráptein ‘sew, patch’ and Lithuanian verpti ‘spin’.
adder (n.): Old English næddre "a snake, serpent, viper," from Proto-Germanic *nædro "a snake" (cognates: Old Norse naðra, Middle Dutch nadre, Old High German natra, German Natter, Gothic nadrs), from PIE root *netr- (cognates: Latin natrix "water snake," probably by folk-association with nare "to swim;" Old Irish nathir, Welsh neidr "adder").

The modern form represents a faulty separation 14c.-16c. into an adder, for which see also apron, auger, nickname, humble pie, umpire. Nedder is still a northern English dialect form. Folklore connection with deafness is via Psalm lviii:1-5. The adder is said to stop up its ears to avoid hearing the snake charmer called in to drive it away. Adderbolt (late 15c.) was a former name for "dragonfly."
block (v.): "obstruct," 1590s, from French bloquer "to block, stop up," from Old French bloc (see block (n.)). Meaning "to make smooth or to give shape on a block" is from 1620s. Stage and theater sense is from 1961. Sense in cricket is from 1772; in U.S. football from 1889. Related: Blocked; blocking.
caulk (v.): late 14c., "to stop up crevices or cracks," from Old North French cauquer, from Late Latin calicare "to stop up chinks with lime," from Latin calx (2) "lime, limestone" (see chalk). Original sense is nautical, of making ships watertight. Related: Caulked; caulking. As a noun, "caulking material," by 1980 (caulking in this sense was used from 1743). Related: Caulker.
close (adj.): late 14c., "strictly confined," also "secret," from Old French clos "confined; concealed, secret; taciturn" (12c.), from Latin clausus "close, reserved," past participle adjective from claudere "stop up, fasten, shut" (see close (v.)); main sense shifting to "near" (late 15c.) by way of "closing the gap between two things." Related: Closely.

Meaning "narrowly confined, pent up" is late 14c. Meaning "near" in a figurative sense, of persons, from 1560s. Meaning "full of attention to detail" is from 1660s. Of contests, from 1855. Close call is from 1866, in a quotation in an anecdote from 1863, possibly a term from the American Civil War; close shave in the figurative sense is 1820, American English. Close range is from 1814. Close-minded is attested from 1818. Close-fisted "penurious, miserly" is from c. 1600.
estop (v.): in law, "to bar, prevent, preclude," 1530s, from Anglo-French estopper "to stop, bar, hinder" (especially in a legal sense, by one's own prior act or declaration), from Old French estoper "plug, stop up, block; prevent, halt" (also in obscene usage), from estope "tow, oakum," from Latin stuppa "tow" (used as a plug); see stop (v.).
obstruct (v.): 1610s, a back-formation from obstruction or else from Latin obstructus, past participle of obstruere "to block, to stop up" (see obstruction). Related: Obstructed; obstructing.
stop (v.): Old English -stoppian (in forstoppian "to stop up, stifle"), a general West Germanic word, cognate with Old Saxon stuppon, West Frisian stopje, Middle Low German stoppen, Old High German stopfon, German stopfen "to plug, stop up," Old Low Frankish (be)stuppon "to stop (the ears)."

These words are said by many sources to be a Germanic borrowing of Vulgar Latin *stuppare "to stop or stuff with tow or oakum" (source of Italian stoppare, French étouper "to stop with tow"), from Latin stuppa "coarse part of flax, tow." In support of this theory, it is said that plugs made of tow were used from ancient times in Rhine valley. Century Dictionary says this "suits phonetically," but "is on grounds of meaning somewhat doubtful." Barnhart, for one, proposes the whole Germanic group might be native, from a base *stoppon.

Sense of "bring or come to a halt, discontinue" (mid-15c.) is from notion of preventing a flow by blocking a hole, and the word's development in this sense is unique to English, though it since has been widely adopted in other languages; perhaps influenced by Latin stupere "be stunned, be stupefied." Intransitive meaning "check oneself" is from 1680s. Meaning "make a halt or stay, tarry" is from 1711. Stop-light is from 1922; stop-sign is from 1918. Stop-motion is from 1851, originally of looms. Related: Stopped; stopping.
obturator: "Either of two muscles covering the outer front part of the pelvis on each side and involved in movements of the thigh and hip", Early 18th century: from medieval Latin, literally 'obstructor', from obturare 'stop up'.