suck all the air out of

present singular third person sucks all the air out of · participle present sucking all the air out of · participle past sucked all the air out of · past sucked all the air out of

1. Alternative form of suck the air out of.
   1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see suck, all, air, out.
   2. To dominate or overwhelm.

      No one ever understands Luella's impact. It is as though she sucks all the air out of a room.

      2015, Sandra Buechler, Understanding and Treating Patients in Clinical Psychoanalysis, →ISBN

      2 more examples

      The gravity of our situation sucks all the air out of the truck cab. I'm caught in a moment of deep reflection.

      2015, Ryan Correy, A Purpose Ridden, →ISBN

      “It makes sense, because if he [Clinton] appears with Gore, it just sucks all the air out of everything; it's all people want to talk about," Carville said.

      2016, Stephen J. Wayne, The Election of the Century, →ISBN

   3. To destroy.

      But his next words sucked all the air out of my rationalizations.

      2008, Eric Rosenblatt, The Bureaucrat of Last Resort, →ISBN, page 208

      2 more examples

      You've got to be flexible — otherwise it sucks all the air out of the movie, and you've seen the movies that feel like a filmed storyboard.

      2009, Jacqueline B Frost, Cinematography for Directors, →ISBN, page 36

      Now he's too eager for the graveyard pun or, if he's trying too hard, the Billy Collins premise that sucks all the air out of a poem.

      2014, William Logan, Guilty Knowledge, Guilty Pleasure: The Dirty Art of Poetry, →ISBN, page 143