silencing

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

1.To compel to silence; to cause to be still; to still; to hush. [1913 Webster]

Silence that dreadful bell; it frights the isle.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

2.To put to rest; to quiet. [1913 Webster]

This would silence all further opposition.— Clarendon.[1913 Webster]

These would have silenced their scruples.— Rogers.[1913 Webster]

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. [1913 Webster]

The Rev. Thomas Hooker of Chelmsford, in Essex, was silenced for nonconformity.— B. Trumbull.[1913 Webster]

4.To cause to cease firing, as by a vigorous cannonade; as, to silence the batteries of an enemy. [1913 Webster]