throttle
[throt-l]
- Also called throttle lever. a lever, pedal, handle, etc., for controlling or manipulating a throttle valve.
- throttle valve.
- the throat, gullet, or windpipe, as of a horse.
Show More
- to stop the breath of by compressing the throat; strangle.
- to choke or suffocate in any way.
- to compress by fastening something tightly around.
- to silence or check as if by choking: His message was throttled by censorship.
- Machinery.
- to obstruct or check the flow of (a fluid), as to control the speed of an engine.
- to reduce the pressure of (a fluid) by passing it from a smaller area to a larger one.
Show More
- at full throttle, at maximum speed.
Show More
Origin of throttle
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for throttled
Contemporary Examples
To be fair, he told me that he would kill me while he throttled my neck, and once I broke free I tried desperately to fight back.
These were men of their time, and their aesthetic interest in the ancient world was throttled by Christian prudery.
Even the king of all search engines can be throttled up with a few simple tricks.
A: Well, we didn't shut it down—we throttled it back, to be fair.
Historical Examples
Burnham's hand fell heavily on his forearm and he checked as if throttled.
The Fortune HunterLouis Joseph Vance
She tied a knot with flashing eyes, as if it throttled a foe.
A Tale of Two CitiesCharles Dickens
Then he was dragged on to the middle of the rug, feeling by this time that he was going to be throttled.
Is He Popenjoy?Anthony Trollope
I expect it would too, if someone could have throttled Billy Bounce.
Torchy, Private Sec.Sewell Ford
The name of self-government is noisy everywhere: the Thing is throttled.
A Miscellany of MenG. K. Chesterton
throttle
- Also called: throttle valve any device that controls the quantity of fuel or fuel and air mixture entering an engine
- an informal or dialect word for throat
Show More
- to kill or injure by squeezing the throat
- to suppressto throttle the press
- to control or restrict (a flow of fluid) by means of a throttle valve
Show More
Word Origin
C14: throtelen, from throte throat
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for throttled
throttle
v.
"strangle to death," c.1400, probably from Middle English throte "throat" (see throat). Related: Throttled; throttling. The noun, in the mechanical sense, is first recorded 1870s, from throttle-valve (1824), but was used earlier as a synonym for "throat" (1540s); it appears to be an independent formation, not derived from the verb.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper