Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Strangle

Strangle , transitive verb

[Old French estrangler, French étrangler, Latin strangulare, Greek {not transcribed}, {not transcribed}, from {not transcribed} a halter; and perhaps akin to English string, n. Compare Strain, String.]

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? — Shakespeare
3.
To hinder from appearance; to stifle; to suppress.
Strangle such thoughts. — Shakespeare

Strangle , intransitive verb

To be strangled, or suffocated.