n. [ Prov. E. brangled confused, entangled, Scot. brangle to shake, menace; probably a variant of wrangle, confused with brawl. √95.> ] A wrangle; a squabble; a noisy contest or dispute. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

A brangle between him and his neighbor. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Brangled p. pr. & vb. n. Brangling ] To wrangle; to dispute contentiously; to squabble. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Wrangle; brangle. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A quarrelsome person. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Pref. dis- + em = en (L. in) + brangle. ] To free from wrangling or litigation. [ Obs. ] Berkeley. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Pref. em- (L. in) + brangle. ] To confuse; to entangle. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am lost and embrangled in inextricable difficulties. Berkeley. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To strangle. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To entangle as in a cobweb; to mix confusedly. [ R. ] Hudibras. [ 1913 Webster ]

Physiology imbrangled with an inapplicable logic. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. L. quadrangulum; quattuor four + angulus an angle. See Four, and Angle a corner. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. (Geom.) A plane figure having four angles, and consequently four sides; any figure having four angles. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A square or quadrangular space or inclosure, such a space or court surrounded by buildings, esp. such a court in a college or public school in England. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To range about in an irregular manner. [ Obs. or Prov. Eng. ] Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Strangled p. pr. & vb. n. Strangling ] [ OF. estrangler, F. étrangler, L. strangulare, Gr. &unr_;, &unr_;, fr. &unr_; a halter; and perhaps akin to E. string, n. Cf. 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Our Saxon ancestors compelled the adulteress to strangle herself. Ayliffe. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To stifle, choke, or suffocate in any manner. [ 1913 Webster ]

Shall I not then be stifled in the vault, . . .
And there die strangled ere my Romeo comes? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To hinder from appearance; to stifle; to suppress. “Strangle such thoughts.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To be strangled, or suffocated. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being strangled. [ R. ] Chesterfield. [ 1913 Webster ]

. 1. (Wrestling) a hold by which one's opponent is choked. It is usually not allowed. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

2. a forceful influence that strongly inhibits freedom of action; as, the oil price jump put a stranglehold on the economy. [ PJC ]

Zona believes that Microsoft's entry into this fray breaks what has been, by all appearances, Netscape's stranglehold on the Internet. Microsoft is not licensing any technology from Netscape, and as part of this announcement, several alliances which historically would have been with Netscape were included. The impact of this announcement on Netscape was huge. [ PJC ]

SAN FRANCISCO, November 6, 1996 -- If Microsoft Corp. CEO Bill Gates were a plumber, he would control all the water in the world and force anyone who wanted some of the precious liquid to cut a deal with him.
With that statement, Oracle Corp. CEO Larry Ellison closed a question-and-answer session with reporters and analysts held here Tuesday at Oracle OpenWorld. During his hour-long appearance, Ellison agitated in favor of low-cost, generic network computers and against Windows-based PCs.
"The notion of one company controlling the whole [computer] industry is shocking and unacceptable," Ellison said, referring to what he describes as Microsoft's stranglehold on PCs through its ubiquitous Windows operating systems. [ PJC ]

n. One who, or that which, strangles. “The very strangler of their amity.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A disease in horses and swine, in which the upper part of the throat, or groups of lymphatic glands elsewhere, swells. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) Same as Wariangle. [ Obs. or Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Wrangled p. pr. & vb. n. Wrangling ] [ OE. wranglen to wrestle. See Wrong, Wring. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To argue; to debate; to dispute. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To dispute angrily; to quarrel peevishly and noisily; to brawl; to altercate. “In spite of occasional wranglings.” Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

For a score of kingdoms you should wrangle. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

He did not know what it was to wrangle on indifferent points. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To involve in a quarrel or dispute; to embroil. [ R. ] Bp. Sanderson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An angry dispute; a noisy quarrel; a squabble; an altercation. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Altercation; bickering; brawl; jar; jangle; contest; controversy. See Altercation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. An angry disputant; one who disputes with heat or peevishness. “Noisy and contentious wranglers.” I. Watts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One of those who stand in the first rank of honors in the University of Cambridge, England. They are called, according to their rank, senior wrangler, second wrangler, third wrangler, etc. Cf. Optime. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The honor or position of being a wrangler at the University of Cambridge, England. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Contentious; quarrelsome. [ Prov. Eng. ] Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]