strangle

strangle

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈstɹæŋɡ(ə)l/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈstɹæŋɡəl/
• Rhymes: -æŋɡəl
• Hyphenation: stran‧gle

Verb

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

A drawing showing a woman being strangled.

1. (transitive) To kill someone by squeezing the throat so as to cut off the oxygen supply; to choke, suffocate or throttle.

   He strangled his wife and dissolved the body in acid.

2. (transitive) To stifle or suppress.

   She strangled a scream.

3. (intransitive) To be killed by strangulation, or become strangled.

   The cat slipped from the branch and strangled on its bell-collar.

4. (intransitive) To be stifled, choked, or suffocated in any manner.
   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     Shall I not then be stifled in the vault,
     […] And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes?

Derived terms

• strangleable
• stranglehold
• stranglement
• strangler
• strangle the parrot
• strangling

 

Related terms

• strangulate
• strangulation

Translations

to kill someone by strangulation

Arabic: خَنَقَ‎ (ḵanaqa) Armenian: please add this translation if you can Azerbaijani: boğmaq (az) Basque: itota hil Belarusian: душы́ць impf (dušýcʹ), прыдушы́ць pf (prydušýcʹ) Bikol Central: hugot Bulgarian: удушавам (bg) (udušavam) Catalan: estrangular (ca), escanyar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 扼殺／扼杀 (zh) (èshā) Czech: uškrtit, dávit (cs) Danish: kvæle (da) Dutch: wurgen (nl), worgen (nl) Esperanto: strangoli Finnish: kuristaa (fi) French: étrangler (fr) Galician: esganar, estrangular (gl) Georgian: დაგუდვა (dagudva) (verbal noun), გუდავს (gudavs) (infinitive), დახრჩობა (daxrčoba) (verbal noun), ახრჩობს (axrčobs) (infinitive) German: strangulieren (de), erwürgen (de) Greek: στραγγαλίζω (el) (strangalízo) Ancient: ἄγχω (ánkhō), στραγγαλίζω (strangalízō) Hebrew: חנק‎ (he) (khanák), חנק למוות‎ (khanák lamávet) Hungarian: megfojt (hu), fojtogat (hu) Indonesian: mencekik (id) Irish: tacht Italian: strangolare (it) Japanese: 絞め殺す (しめころす, shimekorosu) Khmer: ច្របាច់ក (crɑbac kɑɑ), ត្របែងក (trɑbaeŋ kɑɑ), រឹតក (riit kɑɑ) Korean: 교살하다 (gyosalhada) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: fetisandin (ku) Latin: angō, strangulō, suffōcō, offōcō Lithuanian: pasmaugti Maori: ronarona, nanati, tārona Middle English: stranglen Mongolian: please add this translation if you can Norman: êtranglyi Old English: āwyrġan Portuguese: estrangular (pt), sufocar (pt) Quechua: sipiy Russian: души́ть (ru) impf (dušítʹ), задуши́ть (ru) pf (zadušítʹ), придуши́ть (ru) pf (pridušítʹ) Scottish Gaelic: tachd, mùch Serbo-Croatian: zadaviti (sh) Slovak: zaškrtiť Spanish: estrangular (es) Swahili: nyonga (sw) Swedish: strypa (sv) Thai: บีบคอ (bìip-kɔɔ) Turkish: boğmak (tr) Ukrainian: души́ти impf (dušýty), задуши́ти pf (zadušýty), придуши́ти pf (prydušýty) Vietnamese: bóp nghẹt (vi) Welsh: tagu (cy) Westrobothnian: struup, strööyp, kwävi, straiv, striiv

to stifle or suppress

Bulgarian: сподавям (bg) (spodavjam) Chinese: Mandarin: 抑制 (zh), 压制 (zh) Czech: potlačit Dutch: onderdrukken (nl) Hungarian: elfojt (hu) Maori: nanati, natinati Middle English: stranglen Russian: подавля́ть (ru) impf (podavljátʹ), подави́ть (ru) pf (podavítʹ) Swahili: nyonga (sw) Swedish: undertrycka (sv) Ukrainian: приду́шувати impf (prydúšuvaty), придуши́ти pf (prydušýty)

Noun

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

• asphyxiate
• choke
• gag
• querk
• suffocate
• throttle

Further reading

• strangle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• strangle in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• strangle at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Largents, Stangler, langrets, tanglers, trangles

---

Middle English

Verb

strangle

1. Alternative form of stranglen