Meaning/Translation of "stopper death"

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 168233

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "zanooda2" <zanooda2 at ...> wrote:
>
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Miles" <miles@> wrote:
> 
> <snip>
>  
> > As far as I recall it, in every discussion up to now "stopper 
> > death" was interpreted as 'to stop death' or 'to put a stop to 
> > death'. That was my understanding as well - but yesterday I watched 
> > the German version of the film, and they translated it "den Tod 
> > verkorken" - that's "to cork death".
> > 
> > I'm not a native speaker, but this translation/understanding seems 
> > to be reasonable. To brew a potion, to bottle it - and to put a 
> > stopper into the bottle.
> 
>  
> zanooda:
> 
> I'm not a native speaker either, so I won't even try to discuss what 
> meanings the word "stopper" can have, but I can tell you that it was 
> translated the same way into Russian. I wouldn't trust their 
> translators much, but in this case I don't blame them, because 
> English-Russian dictionaries give only one meaning of this word - 
> stopper (noun) means cork, stopper (verb) means to cork a bottle. So 
> they (Germans as well as Russians) just translated it literally.

<snip>

Geoff:
Th definition in my dictionary is:
"Stopper > noun 1 a plug for sealing a hole 2 a person or thing that stops > verb seal with 
a stopper."

As a native UK English speaker, I would use the noun as probably a glass top or cork in a 
bottle and in its use in "Philosopher's Stone", Snape is most certainly using it as a verb. It 
is one of a series of verbs used, all used metaphorically.....

"...to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death..."
(PS "The Potions Master"p.102 UK edition)