Noose
noun
A loop with a running knot, tightening as the rope or wire is pulled, often used to trap animals or hang people.
He was caught in a noose that had been set for a deer.
Often appears as...
- tighten the noose
- hangman's noose
verb
To catch, trap, or fasten something using a loop with a running knot.
He tried to noose the runaway horse by throwing a rope around its neck.
Often appears as...
- noose around
- noose something with
noun
A difficult or precarious situation, especially one that it's hard to escape from.
With each lie he told, he felt the noose of his deceit tighten.
Often appears as...
- feel the noose tighten
- noose of debt
Usage tips
Disapproving
Idiomatic
noun
A loop with a running knot, tightening as the rope or wire is pulled, often used to trap animals or hang people.
He was caught in a noose that had been set for a deer.
Often appears as...
- tighten the noose
- hangman's noose
verb
To catch, trap, or fasten something using a loop with a running knot.
He tried to noose the runaway horse by throwing a rope around its neck.
Often appears as...
- noose around
- noose something with
noun
A difficult or precarious situation, especially one that it's hard to escape from.
With each lie he told, he felt the noose of his deceit tighten.
Often appears as...
- feel the noose tighten
- noose of debt
Usage tips
Disapproving
Idiomatic
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Negative Connotation
The word often implies danger or death, especially when referring to hanging.
The grim history of the noose casts a dark shadow.
Pro Tip 2/3Literal Use
Used literally, 'noose' refers to the actual loop knot used in situations described.
The cowboy created a noose to round up the cattle.
Pro Tip 3/3Figurative Speech
Metaphorically, 'noose' implies a trap or a situation that's hard to escape.
He walked into a financial noose with those loans.
Compare with
bindhalterknotlassoligaturesnaretie
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Video examples
The danger of silence PIPE...
It is feeling your flaws gut-wrench guillotine your tongue. It is the air retreating from your chest because it doesn't feel safe in your lungs. Silence is Rwandan genocide. Silence is Katrina. It is what you hear when there aren't enough body bags left. It is the sound after the noose is already tied.
Video examples
The Wonders of Urban...
deeper inside and i'm really really interested in what i would call these little urban green packets so parks would be green spaces but i'm really interested in like low use spaces so for me that would be like abandoned fields or nooses properties with lots of
Video examples
Paper towns and why...
They literally put nooses on themselves, and then they went off to their jobs, whatever they were. That's not a recipe for a happy life. These people -- in my, symbol-obsessed, twelve year-old imagination -- these people who are strangling themselves
Video examples
Monster Crocs PIPE National...
the giant I'm after but it's a chance to test the laser Cam's accuracy that is if I can catch alright here's the plan since we're right on top of the crocodiles we're gonna lower a rope straight down with it with a noose we're gonna put a piece of
Video examples
Would You Eat Dead Rat?...
plugging the exits at the rat so that he can't escape once we do that then we can start digging it's a lot of effort for the rodent most of us wouldn't want to meet let alone eat but Silva noose and his friends are getting closer but
Video examples
Photographer’s Journey...
who had the leather noose around his neck and had a leather hat. You know everybody talks about his peaceful gaze and the tannin, the soil that he is in is the thing that has made their bodies so dark. It's like tanning a saddle.
Video examples
Sir David Attenborough...
the ground and will certainly prefer to cross the clearing by running along the poles when they do they will enter this noose and their hang until they are slaughtered and eaten
Video examples
Why Gender Equality Is...
you need a signifier, and what could be a better signifier of disembodied Western rationality than a garment that at one end is a noose and the other end points to the genitals?
Video examples
Wall Street in prison PIPE...
historical artifacts including a cigar box full of tiny nooses made by the last hangman at the prison the woman sitting nervously waiting for her husband to be
Video examples
Poetic Stickup: Put the...
instead of a university, for the nooses hanging my GPA by its neck. There is no other option. There is no other way. Just, please, put the money in the bag.
Video examples
The danger of silence PIPE...
It is feeling your flaws gut-wrench guillotine your tongue. It is the air retreating from your chest because it doesn't feel safe in your lungs. Silence is Rwandan genocide. Silence is Katrina. It is what you hear when there aren't enough body bags left. It is the sound after the noose is already tied.
Video examples
The Wonders of Urban...
deeper inside and i'm really really interested in what i would call these little urban green packets so parks would be green spaces but i'm really interested in like low use spaces so for me that would be like abandoned fields or nooses properties with lots of
Video examples
Paper towns and why...
They literally put nooses on themselves, and then they went off to their jobs, whatever they were. That's not a recipe for a happy life. These people -- in my, symbol-obsessed, twelve year-old imagination -- these people who are strangling themselves
Video examples
Monster Crocs PIPE National...
the giant I'm after but it's a chance to test the laser Cam's accuracy that is if I can catch alright here's the plan since we're right on top of the crocodiles we're gonna lower a rope straight down with it with a noose we're gonna put a piece of
Video examples
Would You Eat Dead Rat?...
plugging the exits at the rat so that he can't escape once we do that then we can start digging it's a lot of effort for the rodent most of us wouldn't want to meet let alone eat but Silva noose and his friends are getting closer but
Video examples
Photographer’s Journey...
who had the leather noose around his neck and had a leather hat. You know everybody talks about his peaceful gaze and the tannin, the soil that he is in is the thing that has made their bodies so dark. It's like tanning a saddle.
Video examples
Sir David Attenborough...
the ground and will certainly prefer to cross the clearing by running along the poles when they do they will enter this noose and their hang until they are slaughtered and eaten
Video examples
Why Gender Equality Is...
you need a signifier, and what could be a better signifier of disembodied Western rationality than a garment that at one end is a noose and the other end points to the genitals?
Video examples
Wall Street in prison PIPE...
historical artifacts including a cigar box full of tiny nooses made by the last hangman at the prison the woman sitting nervously waiting for her husband to be
Video examples
Poetic Stickup: Put the...
instead of a university, for the nooses hanging my GPA by its neck. There is no other option. There is no other way. Just, please, put the money in the bag.
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Alexa Vega
American Actress
I don't know how I didn't kill any one of my sisters. For this one horror film we were making, I made my own harness for my sister. I wrapped her in all these ropes, but then also put a noose around her neck and hung her from a tree. Now I think, 'What if my harness didn't work?' I'm so lucky that nothing ever happened.
Quote examples
Paul Merton
British Comedian
When things are difficult, awful, stressful, the thing that always gets you through is a sense of humour. I don't mean - well, maybe I do - laugh at the hangman as he puts the noose around your neck. But an eye, an ear, for the ridiculous, the absurd in life, can get you through a lot.
Quote examples
H. G. Wells
English Author
A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own.
Quote examples
Michael Gove
British Politician
Were I ever alone in the dock, I would not want to be arraigned before our flawed tribunals, knowing my freedom could be forfeit as a result of political pressures. I would prefer a fair trial, under the shadow of the noose.
Quote examples
Michael McDonald
I've felt the noose tightening for me for years at the major labels, where you're allowed to do less and less of what you would do most naturally and expected to do something that was expected to be saleable.
Quote examples
Anthony Ray Hinton
American Author
Black, poor, without a father most of my life, one of 10 children - it was actually pretty amazing I had made it to the age of 29 without a noose around my neck.
Quote examples
Linda Ellerbee
American Journalist
If men can run the world, why can't they stop wearing neckties? How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck?
Quote examples
Walter Cronkite
American Journalist
If, as they say, the threat of the hangman's noose has a powerful way of focusing one's attention, the same can be said of pregnancy.
Quote examples
Kim Jong Il
North Korean Leader
Imperialist aid is a noose of plunder and subjugation, aimed at robbing 10 and even 100 things for one thing that is given.
Quote examples
Jean Toomer
American Author
Fear is a noose that binds until it strangles.
Quote examples
Alexa Vega
American Actress
I don't know how I didn't kill any one of my sisters. For this one horror film we were making, I made my own harness for my sister. I wrapped her in all these ropes, but then also put a noose around her neck and hung her from a tree. Now I think, 'What if my harness didn't work?' I'm so lucky that nothing ever happened.
Quote examples
Paul Merton
British Comedian
When things are difficult, awful, stressful, the thing that always gets you through is a sense of humour. I don't mean - well, maybe I do - laugh at the hangman as he puts the noose around your neck. But an eye, an ear, for the ridiculous, the absurd in life, can get you through a lot.
Quote examples
H. G. Wells
English Author
A time will come when a politician who has willfully made war and promoted international dissension will be as sure of the dock and much surer of the noose than a private homicide. It is not reasonable that those who gamble with men's lives should not stake their own.
Quote examples
Michael Gove
British Politician
Were I ever alone in the dock, I would not want to be arraigned before our flawed tribunals, knowing my freedom could be forfeit as a result of political pressures. I would prefer a fair trial, under the shadow of the noose.
Quote examples
Michael McDonald
I've felt the noose tightening for me for years at the major labels, where you're allowed to do less and less of what you would do most naturally and expected to do something that was expected to be saleable.
Quote examples
Anthony Ray Hinton
American Author
Black, poor, without a father most of my life, one of 10 children - it was actually pretty amazing I had made it to the age of 29 without a noose around my neck.
Quote examples
Linda Ellerbee
American Journalist
If men can run the world, why can't they stop wearing neckties? How intelligent is it to start the day by tying a little noose around your neck?
Quote examples
Walter Cronkite
American Journalist
If, as they say, the threat of the hangman's noose has a powerful way of focusing one's attention, the same can be said of pregnancy.
Quote examples
Kim Jong Il
North Korean Leader
Imperialist aid is a noose of plunder and subjugation, aimed at robbing 10 and even 100 things for one thing that is given.
Quote examples
Jean Toomer
American Author
Fear is a noose that binds until it strangles.
Example 1 of 10
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