strangle
/ˈstɹeɪ̯ŋɡəl/ verb, noun
Forms strangles strangling strangled
- verb (transitive) To kill someone by squeezing the throat so as to cut off the oxygen supply. “She strangled her husband and dissolved the body in acid.”
- verb (transitive) To choke, suffocate or throttle, whether the victim survives or not.
- verb (transitive) To stifle or suppress. “He strangled a scream.”
- verb (intransitive) To be killed by strangulation, or become strangled. “The cat slipped from the branch and strangled on its bell-collar.”
- verb (intransitive) To be stifled, choked, or suffocated in any manner.
- noun (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.
Synonyms
scrag strangulate throttle smother stifle muffle repress hamper halter cramp choke gag suffocate
Etymology
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 worien (“to strangle”) (> English worry).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To compress the windpipe of (a person or animal) until death results from stoppage of respiration; to choke to death by compressing the throat, as with the hand or a rope.
- verb To stifle, choke, or suffocate in any manner.
- verb To be strangled, or suffocated.
Etymology [OF. estrangler, F. étrangler, L. strangulare, Gr. string, n. Cf. Strain, String.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “strangle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details