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A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Strangil(l, Strangl-, v. Also strangal(l, strongl-, (strauchil). P.p. also strangulat. [ME and e.m.E. strangle (Manning), OF estrangler (c1119 in Larousse), L. strangulāre.]

1. To kill by crushing or compressing, esp. by squeezing the neck; to throttle. Also, to strangill (a person) to deid.p.t. (1) 1513 Doug. viii v 24.
Hercules … , Lugyng a bab in creddill, stranglit he … twa gret serpentis … The quhilk he wyrreit with hys handis tway 1567 Sat. P. iv 77.
How that thay bucheouris blew me in the air And stranglit me, I shame for to declair a1597-1617 Hist. Jas. VI (1825) 65. 1605 Crim. Trials II 482.
[He] crewallie, and vnmercifullie strangallit and wirreit the said … Agnes, his spous, in hir bed 1614 Crim. Trials III 270.
Quhilk chyld scho strangillit 1667 Rothesay B. Rec. 135.
Patrik M'Neill burges of the said brughe who stranglit himselff in his awin kill(2) 1619 Crim. Trials III 474.
Playing the pairt of hangmen, and burriowis, with ane hair tedder, [they] strangillit and wirreit him to deid 1627 Justiciary Cases I 73.p.p. 1501 Doug. Pal. Hon. 193.
How affrayit was I, Traistand to be stranglit with bestiall 1530 Lynd. Test. Pap. 470.
On Lawder bryge syne keppit wer in tedderis, Stranglit to deith, thay gat none vther grace 1531 Bell. Boece II 210.
Mony uncouth mervellis wer sene at this time in Albion: … ane sparhalk wes strangulat be ane howlat 1533 Boece 101.
Of King Evene this was the fyne, the vij ȝere of his regne in presoun strangillit 1656 Dumfries Council Min. MS 19 May.
That William … to be takin to the place foirsaid [of executioune] and thair to be strangled at ane staik till he be deid 1662 Forfar Witches in Reliq. Antiq. Sc. 141.
The said Isobell Smith [etc.] … to be first strangled, and therefter brunt to ashes

b. To constrict or squeeze painfully. c1520-c1535 Nisbet Matth. xviii 28.
He … stranglit him, and said, Yeeld that that thou aw 15.. Clar. iii 498.
Hir tender bonis thay stronglit all so sore … Stopping hir mouth so hard and cruellie [That] scho micht uneis draw hir breath

c. fig. To be crushed by melancholy. 1530 Lynd. Test. Pap. 562.
Had nocht bene hope bair hym sic companye, He had bene stranglit be malancolye a1578 Pitsc. I 407/6.
Or they come he was nearhand strangled to death be the extreme melancollie

2. To choke, impede (the growth of plants). Also fig. Only in Nisbet after Purvey. c1520-c1535 Nisbet Matth. xiii 7.
Vther seedis fell amang thornes; and thornes wox up and stranglit thaim c1520-c1535 Nisbet Luke viii 7.
And vthir [sc. seed] fell amang thornis; and the thornis sprang up togiddir and strauchilit [P. strangliden] itfig. c1520-c1535 Nisbet Matth. xiii 22.
And the besynes of this warlde, and fallace of richessis, stranglis the word, and it is made without frute c1520-c1535 Nisbet Mark iv 19.