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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

strap.

A long, narrow, pliable strip of leather, cloth, or the like.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/stɹæp/Australia, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/stɹap/British, Northern-England, Southern, Standard/stɾap/Scotland, Wales/stɹɛp/New-Zealand
  1. A long, narrow, pliable strip of leather, cloth, or the like.

    countable · uncountable
  2. A long, narrow, pliable strip of leather, cloth, or the like. A strap worn on the shoulder.

    countable · uncountable
  3. A strip of thick leather used in flogging.

    countable · uncountable
  4. Something made of such a strip, or of a part of one, or a combination of two or more for a particular use.

    countable · uncountable
  5. A piece of leather, or strip of wood covered with a suitable material, used to hone the sharpened edge of a razor; a strop.

    countable · uncountable
  6. A narrow strip of anything, as of iron or brass. A band, plate, or loop of metal for clasping and holding timbers or parts of a machine.

    countable · uncountable
  7. A narrow strip of anything, as of iron or brass. A piece of rope or metal passing around a block and used for fastening it to anything.

    countable · uncountable
  8. The flat part of the corolla in ligulate florets, as those of the white circle in the daisy.

    countable · uncountable
  9. The leaf, exclusive of its sheath, in some grasses.

    countable · uncountable
  10. A gun, normally a personal firearm such as a pistol or machine pistol.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  11. Credit offered to a customer, especially for alcoholic drink.

    archaic · slang · uncountable
  12. A strap-on.

    countable · slang · uncountable
  13. Synonym of strapline.

    countable · uncountable
  14. A championship belt, or by extension, the title.

    countable · slang · uncountable · with-definite-article
  15. An investment strategy involving simultaneous trade with one put and two call options on the same security at the same strike price, similar to but more bullish than a straddle.

    countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From a variant of earlier strope (“loop on a harness”), from Middle English strope, stroppe, from Late Old English strop, stropp (“a band, thong, strap; oar-thong”) and Old French estrope (“strap, loop on a harness”), both from Latin stroppus, struppus (“strap”), from Ancient Greek στρόφος (stróphos, “rope”) (compare strophe), from στρέφω (stréphō, “to twist”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *strebʰ- (compare Proto-West Germanic *stroppōn (“to twist, writhe”)). Cognate with Scots strap, strop (“strap, band, thong”), Dutch strop (“noose, strop, loop”), Low German Strop (“strap”), German Struppe, Strüppe, Strippe (“string, cord”), Danish strop (“strap”), Swedish stropp (“strap, loop”).

verb/stɹæp/Australia, Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/stɹap/British, Northern-England, Southern, Standard/stɾap/Scotland, Wales/stɹɛp/New-Zealand
  1. To beat or chastise with a strap; to whip, to lash.

    transitive
  2. To fasten or bind with a strap.

    transitive
    I strapped my son into the back seat.
  3. To sharpen by rubbing on a strap; to strop.

    transitive
    to strap a razor
  4. To slap or stroke the muscled areas of a horse with a cloth or pad, a form of massage meant to improve muscle tone.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From a variant of earlier strope (“loop on a harness”), from Middle English strope, stroppe, from Late Old English strop, stropp (“a band, thong, strap; oar-thong”) and Old French estrope (“strap, loop on a harness”), both from Latin stroppus, struppus (“strap”), from Ancient Greek στρόφος (stróphos, “rope”) (compare strophe), from στρέφω (stréphō, “to twist”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *strebʰ- (compare Proto-West Germanic *stroppōn (“to twist, writhe”)). Cognate with Scots strap, strop (“strap, band, thong”), Dutch strop (“noose, strop, loop”), Low German Strop (“strap”), German Struppe, Strüppe, Strippe (“string, cord”), Danish strop (“strap”), Swedish stropp (“strap, loop”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.