Suffocates

verb

1. To suffer, or cause someone to suffer, from severely reduced oxygen intake to the body.

   "Open the hatch, he is suffocating in the airlock!"

2. To die due to, or kill someone by means of, insufficient oxygen supply to the body.

   "He suffocated his wife by holding a pillow over her head."

3. To overwhelm, or be overwhelmed (by a person or issue), as though with oxygen deprivation.

   "I'm suffocating under this huge workload."

4. To destroy; to extinguish.

   "to suffocate fire"