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Push me down
and I'll grow.
Confess our secret
and I'll go.

I am the one
that hides within
the silencer known
as the guillotine.

I punish the
ones with heart
and strip away
their mirth.

Only talk to me
if you are insane.
I'm dangerous, but
clearly not inane.

Who am I?

Hint 1

I am a form e when set in motion.

Hint 2

I lay concealed in another form in the title

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2 Answers 2

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Are you:

Guilt?

Push me down
and I'll grow.

The more you push down the more guilty you feel?

Confess our secret
and I'll go.

Confess you're guilty instead

I am the one
that hides within
the silencer known
as the guillotine.

the word guilt can be form with letters from guillotine.

I punish the
ones with heart
and strip away
their mirth.

The more guilty you'll feel, yes

Only talk to me
if you are insane.
I'm dangerous, but
clearly not inane.

You're guilty but you're not insane?

Who am I?

Guilt

Hint 1:

Motion to Adjudicate Guilt? EDIT: Guilt is a form of 'e'motion (credits to Clangorous Chimera)

Hint 2:

Again the word Guilt can be form with letters from title.

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Yep! Gylt is the olden day spelling of guilt! $\endgroup$
    – Clangorous Chimera
    Commented Jun 20, 2017 at 14:32
  • $\begingroup$ Gylt? Woot you learn something new everyday =D $\endgroup$
    – Alex
    Commented Jun 20, 2017 at 14:40
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ O and also Hint 1 was: e set in motion is emotion :) $\endgroup$
    – Clangorous Chimera
    Commented Jun 20, 2017 at 22:09
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Are you

the letter S?

Push me down
and I'll grow.

The letter S looks a bit like a spring, which when compressed will only grow again afterwards. (OK, this is a bit dodgy - probably there's supposed to be some wordplay here. Bear with me.)

Confess our secret
and I'll go.

Not sure about this.

I am the one
that hides within
the silencer known
as the guillotine.

Presumably this refers to some S-containing word for an execution device.

I punish the
ones with heart
and strip away
their mirth.

Add an S to LAUGHTER (mirth) and it becomes SLAUGHTER (punishment for those with the heart to laugh).

Only talk to me
if you are insane.
I'm dangerous, but
clearly not inane.

Add an S to INANE (which the subject is not) and it becomes INSANE (which involves the subject).

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  • $\begingroup$ Not exactly but that works surprisingly well for some of those stanzas! $\endgroup$
    – Clangorous Chimera
    Commented Jun 16, 2017 at 23:25
  • $\begingroup$ Hehe. I actually tried at something similar, but with the letter T (push down on the horizontal line and it becomes a +, there's a T in "guillotine", "secret", "heart" and "mirth", etc) $\endgroup$
    – tobiasvl
    Commented Jun 18, 2017 at 19:05
  • $\begingroup$ Hmmm I'm not sure how this works? Do I reveal my answer after a period of time? $\endgroup$
    – Clangorous Chimera
    Commented Jun 19, 2017 at 23:47
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @ClangorousChimera Better to add (spoilertagged) hints to the question before revealing the answer. See this meta post about the same issue. $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Jun 20, 2017 at 0:00

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