Stran·gle v. t. [imp. & p. p. Strangled p. pr. & vb. n. Strangling ]
1. 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.
Our Saxon ancestors compelled the adulteress to strangle herself. --Ayliffe.
2. To stifle, choke, or suffocate in any manner.
Shall I not then be stifled in the vault, . . .
And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes? --Shak.
3. To hinder from appearance; to stifle; to suppress. “Strangle such thoughts.”
strangled
adj : held in check with difficulty; "a smothered cough"; "a
stifled yawn"; "a strangled scream"; "suppressed
laughter" [syn: smothered, stifled, suppressed]