Definition of "silence"

Words like violence break the silence / Come crashing in into my little world

1990, Martin L. Gore (lyrics and music), “Enjoy the Silence”, in Violator, performed by Depeche Mode

Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.

1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd.

The administration itself keeps a profound silence.

1832, Daniel Webster, "a convention", quoted in The History of the Union, and of the Constitution by Charles Chauncey Burr

A state ideology, mixing nationalism, and basic Marxist economics, going under the name "Juche", was constructed, and Kim Il-sung effectively silenced, disposed of and cleared away any opposition, isolating the country and exercising an iron grip on the military, the state media and the government and party organs.

2011 December 19, Kerry Brown, “Kim Jong-il obituary”, in The Guardian‎

They, and others through the years, believed Ruby must have acted on his own since there was no logic to the supposition that anyone could trust an uncontrollable, unreliable loudmouth like Ruby to silence Oswald.

2013, Mark Shaw, The Poison Patriarch: How the Betrayals of Joseph P. Kennedy Caused the Assassination of JFK, page 150

(in response to laughter from the audience)Silence! I kill you!

2007 September 17, Spark of Insanity‎, spoken by Achmed the Dead Terrorist (Jeff Dunham)