[f. STRANGLE v.]
† 1. The action of strangling; strangulation. Obs.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1600. Myn is þe strangle [So Lansd.; other MSS. stranglyng] and hangyng by þe þrote.
a. 1603. T. Cartwright, Confut. Rhem. N. T. (1618), 373. Divers lewd traditions … as of Iudas breaking the rope wherewith he hung himselfe, directly contrary to Luke, who writeth that he dyed of that strangle.
fig. 1641. Milton, Animadv., 8. An injurious strangle of silence.
† 2. = STRANGLES. Obs.
1607. Markham, Caval., VII. 70. For betwixt the Strangle and the Glanders is but this difference, that [etc.].
3. = Strangle-hold (in 4).
1890. E. Hitchcock, in Outing, Nov., 117/1. The man unfortunate enough to be under the neck-stretching hold of a ‘Nelson,’ or in the grip of a ‘strangle,’ both of which holds are now usually barred in competition.
1906. in F. R. Toombs, How to Wrestle, 65. Now we consider a strangle from the rear.
4. Comb. † strangle-halt, ? = STRINGHALT; strangle-hold Wrestling, a hold that stops the adversary’s breath; also fig. (attrib.).
1624. L. W. C., Perf. Disc. Horse, D 2 b. For the Strangle-halt.
1893. H. F. Wolff, in Lippincott’s Mag., Feb., 210. In the ‘strangle’ hold, an opponent’s head is caught under the arm, and the unfortunate man is compelled to acknowledge defeat or be choked into insensibility.
1901. ‘H. McHugh,’ John Henry, 83. Day after to-morrow he’ll flash the intelligence on me that he has invented a strangle-hold line of business that will put Looey Harrison on the blink.
