strangler
Britishnoun
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a person or thing that strangles
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a plant, esp a fig in tropical rain forests, that starts as an epiphyte but sends roots to the ground and eventually forms a tree with many aerial roots, usually killing the host
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He spotted a strangler fig and described how it sprouted from a seed that found purchase in the high crotch of another species, slowly sent roots to the ground, and ultimately choked its host.
From National Geographic ● Jan. 23, 2024
Driving west from El Hormiguero toward the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, the road wends through ceibas, strangler figs, and sapodillas, a tree prized since Maya times for its chicle gum.
From Science Magazine ● Oct. 11, 2023
Despite doubts thrown on DeSalvo’s claim, Bailey always maintained that DeSalvo was the strangler.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 3, 2021
“It was my job to deal with the number of psychiatrists who called us to say, ‘I have the strangler in my practice,’ ” Mr. Chayet told The Eagle-Tribune, a Massachusetts newspaper, in 2013.
From New York Times ● Aug. 15, 2017
I must be closer to her if I am to get the strangler into her cup, yet howl Patchface was capering about as the maester made his slow way around the table to Davos Seaworth.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
