SILENCE

Definitions

1. 1. To compel to silence; to cause to be still; to still; to hush. Silence that dreadful bell; it frights the isle. Shak.
2. 2. To put to rest; to quiet. This would silence all further opposition. Clarendon. These would have silenced their scruples. Rogers.
3. 3. To restrain from the exercise of any function, privilege of instruction, or the like, especially from the act of preaching; as, to silence a minister of the gospel. The Rev. Thomas Hooker of Chelmsford, in Essex, was silenced for nonconformity. B. Trumbull.
4. 4. To cause to cease firing, as by a vigorous cannonade; as, to silence the batteries of an enemy.