complete power over a person or situation; corporations have a stranglehold on the media; the president applied a chokehold to labor disputes that inconvenienced the public

[ Syn: stranglehold , throttlehold ]

a restraining hold; someone loops the arm around the neck of another person in a tight grip, usually from behind; he grabbed the woman in a chokehold, demanded her cash and jewelry, and then fled

[ Syn: choke hold ]