throttle

American  

[throt-l] / ˈθrɒt l /

noun

• throttles
  plural

1. Also called throttle lever.  a lever, pedal, handle, etc., for controlling or manipulating a throttle valve.

2. throttle valve.

3. the throat, gullet, or windpipe, as of a horse.

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verb (used with object)

• throttles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• throttled,
  past participle,  past
• throttling
  present participle

1. to stop the breath of by compressing the throat; strangle.

2. to choke or suffocate in any way.

3. to compress by fastening something tightly around.

4. to silence or check as if by choking.

   His message was throttled by censorship.

5. Machinery.

   1. to obstruct or check the flow of (a fluid), as to control the speed of an engine.

   2. to reduce the pressure of (a fluid) by passing it from a smaller area to a larger one.

idioms

1. at full throttle, at maximum speed.

throttle British  

/ ˈθrɒtəl /

noun

1. Also called: throttle valve.  any device that controls the quantity of fuel or fuel and air mixture entering an engine

2. an informal or dialect word for throat

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verb

1. to kill or injure by squeezing the throat

2. to suppress

   to throttle the press

3. to control or restrict (a flow of fluid) by means of a throttle valve

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• throttler
  noun
• unthrottled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• throttles
  plural

Participles

• throttling
  present
• throttled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• throttle
  simple
• throttles
  simple
• have throttled
  perfect
• has throttled
  perfect
• am throttling
  progressive
• are throttling
  progressive
• is throttling
  progressive
• have been throttling
  perfect progressive
• has been throttling
  perfect progressive

Past

• throttled
  simple
• had throttled
  perfect
• was throttling
  progressive
• were throttling
  progressive
• had been throttling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will throttle
  simple
• will have throttled
  perfect
• will be throttling
  progressive
• will have been throttling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of throttle

1350–1400; (v.) Middle English throtelen, frequentative of throten to cut the throat of (someone), strangle, derivative of throat; (noun) probably diminutive of Middle English throte throat; compare German Drossel

Explanation

The throttle of an engine controls the fuel going in, and if you're going at full throttle, you'd better hang onto your hat. You can think of a throttle as a throat, and the two words may be related. But as with a throat, if you block a throttle, something bad is likely to happen. You can throttle your car — cut off the air to the engine, also known as applying the choke — and you might stall it out. You can also throttle a person — the image is that you grab the person by the throat and cut off his air. It's much better to use throttle figuratively: when you crushed your opponent at tennis, you could say "you throttled her" — but nobody really got hurt.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

throttle throttles throttled throttling

I managed to hold it like that, balanced on the throttle, slithering and sidestepping, until I had to join the main straight.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026

The film has a propulsive rhythm to it, a relentlessness, even as Wilde and editors Yorgos Mavropsaridis and Anthony Boys know when to ease off the throttle and take it easy for a bit.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026

VPNs encrypt traffic, making it difficult for internet service providers to detect and throttle specific activities, such as streaming.

From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026

"Whereas if England are two nil up, we might just go full throttle with England songs and enjoy ourselves."

From BBC ● Jun. 5, 2026

Holly jerked the throttle, straight from fourth to reverse.

From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer

But if an internet service provider throttles traffic in response to data caps, a VPN can’t stop that.

From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2026

The short-term impact of opening the fiscal, monetary and credit throttles is easy to predict: rapid growth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 14, 2026

Still burdened with about 1,000 gallons of fire retardant, he shoved the throttles forward to squeeze more power from the howling engines and pulled back on the controls to start an agonizingly slow climb.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2024

While the team has yet to create a fully untethered model -- Aubin says they are halfway there -- the current iteration "absolutely throttles the competition, in terms of their force output."

From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2023

They opened their throttles to full speed, and even then they were only just able to keep up.

From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl

How else to explain those tech CEOs who usually can’t get enough change suddenly wanting it throttled?

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Persian Gulf nations that throttled oil production will need time to restart operations and ships may wait to attempt passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026

But that has been throttled since the war as Iran largely closed the strait, throwing global markets into turmoil and driving up oil prices.

From Barron's ● May 10, 2026

Countries around the world are rushing to add renewable energy such as solar power after the Iran war throttled Middle East oil and gas supplies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 12, 2026

Nina Yegorova-Arefjeva, an armorer for the 46th Guards, said that “sometimes, when our planes were throttled back gliding in over the target, the Germans would cry out, ‘Night witches!’, and our crews could hear them.”

From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein

Beijing began throttling exports of some of those materials in recent years, raising global alarm.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

But China’s throttling back of oil imports and its use of hidden reserves to calm global crude prices were also surprises.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 24, 2026

Privacy A VPN’s raison d’être: encrypting your traffic to mask your internet browsing from your ISP and prevent it from throttling your connection.

From Salon ● Jun. 2, 2026

On Friday, just two ships passed through the narrow waterway, which has seen traffic collapse, throttling shipments of everything from wheat and rice to oil and gas.

From Barron's ● Apr. 10, 2026

It was not as though he was really surprised, thought Harry, as he wrestled with a thorny vine intent upon throttling him; he had had an inkling that this might happen sooner or later.

From "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" by J.K. Rowling