Jump to content

strangle

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Middle English stranglen, from Old French estrangler, from Latin strangulō, strangulāre, from Ancient Greek στραγγαλόομαι (strangalóomai, to be strangled), from στραγγάλη (strangálē, a halter); compare στραγγός (strangós, twisted) and string. Displaced Middle English wirien, awurien (to strangle) (> English worry).

Pronunciation

[edit]
  • (without æ-raising) IPA(key): /ˈstɹæŋɡəl/, [ˈstɹ̝̊ʷæŋɡəl] ~ [ˈstɹ̝̊ʷæŋɡl̩]
  • (æ-raising)
    • (US, Canada) IPA(key): /ˈstɹeɪ̯ŋɡəl/, [ˈstɹ̝̊ʷeɪ̯ŋɡəl]; [ˈst̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷeɪ̯ŋɡl̩]; /ˈstɹɛ̃ŋɡ(ə)l/, [ˈstɹ̝̊ʷɛ̃ŋɡəl]; [ˈst̠ɹ̠̊˔ʷɛ̃ŋɡl̩]
  • Rhymes: -æŋɡəl
  • Hyphenation: stran‧gle

Verb

[edit]

strangle (third-person singular simple present strangles, present participle strangling, simple past and past participle strangled)

A drawing showing a woman being strangled (sense 1).
  1. (transitive) To kill someone by squeezing the throat so as to cut off the oxygen supply.
    Synonym: scrag
    She strangled her husband and dissolved the body in acid.
    • 1936, Robert Frost, “The Vindictives”, in A Further Range:
      And his subjects wrung all they could wring / Out of temple and palace and store. / But when there seemed no more to bring, / His captors convicted the king / Of once having started a war, / And strangled the wretch with a string.
  2. (transitive) To choke, suffocate or throttle, whether the victim survives or not.
  3. (transitive) To stifle or suppress.
    He strangled a scream.
  4. (intransitive) To be killed by strangulation, or become strangled.
    The cat slipped from the branch and strangled on its bell-collar.
  5. (intransitive) To be stifled, choked, or suffocated in any manner.

Derived terms

[edit]
[edit]

Translations

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

strangle (plural strangles)

  1. (finance) A trading strategy using options, constructed through taking equal positions in a put and a call with different strike prices, such that there is a payoff if the underlying asset's value moves beyond the range of the two strike prices.

See also

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]

Anagrams

[edit]

Middle English

[edit]

Verb

[edit]

strangle

  1. alternative form of stranglen