Forms: 4 strangel(le, strangul, 4, 6 strangil, 5 strangli, strang(e)lyn, 6 strangyll, straungle, strongle, 7 strengle, 4– strangle. See also ASTRANGLE, ESTRANGLE vbs. [a. OF. estrangler (mod.F. étrangler) = Pr. estranglar, estrangolar, Sp., Pg. estrangular, It. strangolare, strangulare:—L. strangulāre, a. Gr. στραγγαλᾶν, f. στραγγάλη halter, cogn. w. στραγγός twisted.]
1. trans. To kill by external compression of the throat, esp. by means of a rope or the like passed round the neck.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 972. Ne here helpe hadde be, þat was so nere, Þe hand me hadde strangled here. Ibid. (1338), Chron. (1725), 33. Þe kyng tok þis pantelere, & strangled him right þore.
13[?]. K. Alis., 5305. The other lep on an olyfaunt,… And strangled hym in litel stounde.
a. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 8408. Þai [sc. the damned] salle be fulle … of hatred … Swa þat ilk ane wald with other fyght, And strangelle other, if þai myght.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 476. Knytte þis coorde to mannus þrote & it myȝte soone strangle þis man.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 8245. Thys gorger … strangleth me almost vp ryht, That I may nat speke a-ryht. Ibid. (c. 1430), Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 238. This name Jhesus … Is for to seyne … Our strong Sampson that stranglyd the lioun.
c. 1450. Merlin, i. 4. She henge herself and was strangelid to death.
c. 1500. Three Kings’ Sons (1895), 132. He … drewe the rope so fast, that was aboute his nek, that he had strangild him, had not his folkes cried on him, and seide that it was the hangmans office,… to do so foul a dede.
1530. Palsgr., 738/2. He held me so harde by the throote that he hade allmost stranglyd me.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, lxxxi. 249. Your brother Gerarde [ought] to be hanged and strangled.
1555. Instit. Gentl., L v b. This Narcissus then accordyngly entered into the chaumbre of Comodus, and by force strangled him to deathe.
1563–83. Foxe, A. & M., 1079/2. Tindall … was … then strangled first by the hangman, and afterward with fire consumed.
1577–87. Harrison, England, II. xi. 184/2, in Holinshed. He is either hanged aliue in chaines … (or else vpon compassion taken first strangled with a rope).
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. i. 142. He shall present Hercules in minoritie: his enter and exit shall bee strangling a Snake.
1601. Chettle, Hoffman, IV. (1631), H 2. Weapons draw blood … Then strangle her, here is a towell sir.
1613. Beaum. & Fl., Philaster, V. iii. (1620), 57. Vnlesse it be some snake, or something like your selfe, That in his birth shall strengle you.
1663. Unfort. Usurper, IV. iv. 50. He strangles Alexius with the Bowstring.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 21 Oct. 1678. The murder of Sir Edmondbury Godfrey, found strangl’d about this time.
1726. Ayliffe, Parergon, 52. Our Saxon Ancestors compelled the Adulteress to strangle herself.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., V. 134. As for small birds, they are its [the butcher-bird’s] usual food. It seizes them by the throat, and strangles them in an instant.
1800. Med. Jrnl., IV. 327. The os uteri encircled round the neck of the fœtus like a collar, insomuch that the fœtus was strangled.
1892. R. Buchanan, Come live with Me, iii. 30. Geoffrey’s fingers itched to strangle him out of life.
b. fig.
a. 1591. H. Smith, Trump. Soule, A 5 b. Strangle sinne in thy cradle, for all the wisedome in the world wil nor help thee else.
1678. Stillingfl., Serm., xvi. (1707), 249. If this be the way to reconcile us to their Communion, have we not great reason to be fond of returning into the Bosom of such a Church which may strangle us as soon as it gets us within her Arms?
1870. J. Bruce, Gideon, x. 179. They would be eager to strangle this insurrection in the birth.
c. To constrict painfully (the neck or throat).
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 79. Þat þrote þat spake þe wordes of traytery … was ystrangled with þe grynne of a rope.
1540. Palsgr., Acolastus, II. 1. H ij. I haue a throte bolle almoste strangled .i. snarled or quarkennyd with extreme hunger.
1886. C. E. Pascoe, Lond. of To-day, xli. (ed. 3), 355. The cravat has passed out of memory … and the ‘stock’ is only to be seen occasionally strangling the neck of a stout City magnate.
† d. intr. To be at close grips, to struggle with.
1595. Locrine, I. i. 29. In vaine, therefore, I strangle [ed. 1664 struggle] with this foe.
2. trans. In wider sense: To kill by stoppage of breath; to smother, suffocate, choke. Now rare.
To strangle down (nonce-use): of a whirlpool, to choke as it engulfs.
a. 1300. Havelok, 640. Y was þe[r]-with [i.e., with a gag] so harde prangled, Þat i was þe[r]-with ney strangled.
c. 1450. Brut, II. 352. Þei token þe fetherbed … and cast hit aboue hym;… and sum lay vpon þe fethir bed apon hym, vnto þe tyme þat he were ded … And þus þei strangled þis worthi Duk vn[to] the deth.
1483. Caxton, Cato, 5. An ensample how the auaricious man ete iiii pyeces of golde and how the fourthe strangled hym.
1504. Atkynson, trans. De Imitatione, I. xxiii. 173. Some etynge haue be strangled.
1574. T. Newton, Health Mag., L ij. If a liuinge Mullet be put into wine and choked or strangled therin, whatsoeuer man drinketh of the same wyne, shall [etc.].
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., IV. iii. 35. Shall I not then be stifled in the Vault?… And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes.
1599. Hayward, 1st Pt. Hen. IV., 40. He was strangled under a feather bedde.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Damps, A Labourer, who was sent down [the well] to recover it [a hammer], ere he reach’d the Water, was strangled.
1833. Mrs. Browning, Prometh. Bound, Wks. 1850, I. 189. With Necessity’s vortices strangling me down!
1888. Spectator, 14 Jan., 49. Over a territory of ten thousand square miles … the soft water passed, silently strangling every living thing.
† b. To kill by poison or the like; rarely, by the sword. Obs.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. pr. iv. (1868), 19. Al þouȝ I hadde ben accused þat I wolde … strangle [L. iugulare] prestys wiþ wicked swerde [etc.].
c. 1443. Lydg., in Pol. Poems (Rolls), II. 214. Hanybal,… At the laste, stranglyd with poisoun, Of marcial ire koude lyve nevir in pees.
1535. Coverdale, Jer. xv. 3. The swearde shal strangle them [Luther Mit dem Schwerdt, dass sie erwürget werden].
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 407. Or they come he was nearhand strangled to death be the extreme melancollie.
1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., I. i. That I should drop strong poyson in the boawle,… That it should worke … And strangle him on sodaine.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 237. Galen saith, if it be eaten without Hony, water, and salt, it curdleth in the belly of a man like a cheese and strangleth him.
† c. said of a wild beast, a devil. Obs.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 3189. For me ys come þe fende of helle…. Ryȝt now shal he me strangle and cheke, Ne shal y neuer aftyr speke.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 688. Þat ich niȝt þe deuel com & strangled hir owhen grom.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1160. Yet saugh I … The hunte strangled with the wilde beres. Ibid. (c. 1386), Pars. T., 768. They been the deueles wolues that stranglen the sheepe of Ihesu crist.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 197. The Jew … strangled was of a leoun.
c. 1400. Solomon’s Bk. Wisdom, 243. Þere seuen hungri lyouns weren þereinne all ydytte, ffor þai hym strangli scholden.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys, Agnes, 394. Þe deuyl hym stranglyd in þat place.
1481. Caxton, Myrr., II. xvi. 102. Hym sholde seme anon in his slepe dremyng that all the deuyllis of helle shold come to hym and strangle hym. Ibid. (1484), Fables of Auian, xiv. The lyon wold haue strangled hym.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 18 March 1644. This country so abounds with wolves, that a shepherd whom we met told us one of his companions was strangled by one of them the day before.
1751. Gentl. Mag., XXI. 555. A sort of wolves, which attack … children, of whom they have already strangled and devoured about thirty.
absol. 1611. Bible, Nahum ii. 12. The Lion did teare in pieces enough for his whelpes, and strangled for his Lionesses.
3. transf. To choke, hinder the growth of (a plant) by crowding; † to stifle, quench (a fire, heat) (obs.); to impede the action of (an internal bodily organ) by compression; to suppress (a laugh, a yawn).
1382. Wyclif, Matt. xiii. 7. Forsothe other seedis felden amonge thornis; and the thornis wexen vp and strangliden hem [Vulg. suffocaverunt ea].
c. 1530. Judic. Urines, I. iii. 6 b. Therfore kynde hete is theked and straungled. Ibid., II. iv. 21. And moche water quencheth & cheketh & strangleth feble fyre.
1605. Shaks., Macb., II. iv. 7. Byth’ Clock ’tis Day, And yet darke Night strangles the trauailing Lampe.
1614. Jackson, Creed, III. To Indifferent Rdr. a 6. Like the Iuy alwaies greene, because not set to bring forth fruit vnto saluation, but rather to choake and strangle the plants of life.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., I. ii. II. ii. (1624), 63. As a Lampe is choaked with a multitude of oyle,… so is the naturall heat with immoderate eating strangled in the body.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 387. Young Trees will be strangled with … any rank growing Corn or Weeds, if [etc.].
1829. Scott, Anne of G., xxxii. The poor King … saw … the fatal cabinet … and dolefully calculated how many yawns he must strangle ere he sustained the consideration of its contents.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., IV. 476. The presence of large quantities of this intrusive substance strangling the secreting structures. Ibid. (1898), V. 788. [The symptoms] occur … also where the heart is strangled and compressed by dense fibrous thickening.
b. fig. with various notions. To prevent the growth or rise of; to hamper or destroy by excessive restrictions; to suppress.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., IV. iv. 47. Be merry (Gentle) Strangle such thoughts as these, with any thing That you behold the while.
1642. H. More, Song of Soul, III. iii. 41. Consuming anguish, styptick bitternesse, Doth now so strangle their imperious will.
1658–9. in Burton’s Diary (1828), III. 321. It is not fit to debate whether it shall be in the power of any person or persons to strangle the debates and pains of this House.
1661. Cotterell, trans. Calprenède’s Cassandra, II. II. (1676), 145. Too inconsiderable to strangle your interests.
1710. Prideaux, Orig. Tithes, App. Reasons for Bill, 1. As often as a Bill was brought into Parliament for this purpose, it was always encountered with another … and the latter constantly strangled the former.
1898. Meredith, Odes, Napoleon, vi. Her surest way to strangle thought.
1911. J. H. Rose, Pitt & Gt. War, iii. 72. The exclusive privileges retained by the Dutch had almost strangled the trade of Antwerp.
4. intr. To be choked or suffocated.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1725), 55. I praye God if it wer so I strangle of þis brede.
1662. R. Mathew, Unl. Alch., 8. He could not … lie down in his bed; and if he had assayed to do it, then he should strangle.
1848. Thackeray, Bk. Snobs, xxii. He came down … with a surly scowl on his … face, strangling in a tight, cross-barred cravat.
1889. Stevenson, Master of Ballantrae, ix. 228. Some foul and ominous nightmare, from the which I would awake strangling.
1897. Bookman, Jan., 116/1. Strangling in our starch we can rally him [Byron] familiarly on his limp collars.
5. Comb: † strangle-goose slang, a poulterer (Grose, Dict. Vulgar T., 1785); † strangle-tare [transl. of Gr. ὀροβάγχη, f. ὄροβος tare, vetch + ἄγχ-ειν to choke, strangle], Turner’s name for the Broomrape (Orobanche); by later writers sometimes applied to some other parasitic plants; strangle-vetch, -weed = strangle-tare.
In some modern books strangle-tare, -vetch, weed are given as popular names, but it does not appear that they have had any real currency.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. 71. It hath the name of Orobanche, that is chokefitche or strangletare.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, Table Eng. Names, Strangle weede, and Strangle tare, that is Orobanch.
1693. Urquhart’s Rabelais, III. li. Unto whom it is more contrarious and hurtful than the Strangle-weed, Choak fitch is to the Flax.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), III. 638. Strangle Vetch, or Tare.
1861. Anne Pratt, Flower. Pl., IV. 77. The Broomrapes … have in country places the old name of Strangleweed.
1863. Prior, Plant-n., Strangle-tare, a tare that strangles, Vicia lathyroides, and also a plant that strangles a tare, Cuscuta Europæa.
