a. [ad. mod.L. suffōcātīvus, f. suffōcāt-: see SUFFOCATE v. and -IVE.] Tending to suffocate; causing or inducing suffocation; attended by suffocation.
Chiefly Med., esp. in s. catarrh = capillary bronchitis.
1605. Timme, Quersit., III. 157. Violent catarres which are called suffocatiue.
1753. Chambers Cycl., Suppl., Suffocative catarrh, the name of a disease, which consists in a copious eruption of a serous and mucous humor into the vesicles of the lungs.
1758. Monthly Rev., 507. Nervous suffocative asthmas.
1791. E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., I. iv. 64. The fell Syrocs suffocative breath. Ibid., II. iii. 61. With quick sighs, and suffocative breath, Her interrupted heart-pulse swims in death.
1869. E. A. Parkes, Pract. Hygiene (ed. 3), 114. Sextons are subject to suffocative catarrhs.
1876. Trans. Clinical Soc., IX. 129. She has suffocative attacks, in which she can hardly breathe.
1908. G. W. E. Russell, Threepenny Bits, vii. 47. Forging their way through suffocative crowds.