Chiefly dial. Also 9 Sc. stoif. A suffocating fume or vapor.

1

1636.  Patent Specif. (1856), No. 98. 1. Which Seacoales soe Charked for that they Burne without Smoake, Stife, or other Annoyaunce.

2

1825.  Jamieson, Stife, Stoif, a close sulphureous smell, particularly that arising from the burning of drossy coals.

3

1912.  W. W. Gibson, Fires, II. 38.

        And knew it was the stealthy stife
And deadly fume of burning coke
that filled his lungs.

4