asphyxiate

v. suffocate; be suffocated

Asphyxia (from Greek a-, "without" and σφυγμός (sphygmos), "pulse, heartbeat") is a condition of severely deficient supply of oxygen to the body that arises from being unable to breathe normally. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which primarily affects the tissues and organs most sensitive to hypoxia first, such as the brain, hence resulting in cerebral hypoxia. Asphyxia is usually characterized by air hunger, but this is not always the case; the urge to breathe is triggered by rising carbon dioxide levels in the blood rather than diminishing oxygen levels. Sometimes there is not enough carbon dioxide to cause air hunger, and victims become hypoxic without knowing it. In any case, the absence of effective remedial action will very rapidly lead to unconsciousness, brain damage, and death. The time to death is dependent on the particular mechanism of asphyxia.
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Verb
1. deprive of oxygen and prevent from breathing; "Othello smothered Desdemona with a pillow"; "The child suffocated herself with a plastic bag that the parents had left on the floor"
(synonym) smother, suffocate
(hypernym) kill
(entail) cover
(verb-group) suffocate, stifle
(derivation) suffocation, asphyxiation
2. impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of; "The foul air was slowly suffocating the children"
(synonym) suffocate, stifle, choke
(hypernym) obstruct, obturate, impede, occlude, jam, block, close up
(derivation) suffocation, asphyxiation
3. be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen; "The child suffocated under the pillow"
(synonym) suffocate, stifle
(hypernym) die, decease, perish, go, exit, pass away, expire, pass
(hyponym) strangle
(verb-group) smother, suffocate
(derivation) suffocation, asphyxiation

(v. t.)
To bring to a state of asphyxia; to suffocate. [Used commonly in the past pple.]
  

verb
to prevent someone from breathing or to be prevented from breathing; the baby caught his head in a plastic bag and was asphyxiated; an unconscious patient may become asphyxiated or may asphyxiate if left lying on his back