Word.ws English Dictionary

thrapple

Syllables: thrap·ple/ˈθɹæp(ə)l/US/ˈθɹæp(ə)l/

thrapple noun: the throat, especially the gullet or windpipe.

Noun

thrapple (plural thrapples)

  1. (Northern England, Northern Ireland, Scotland) The throat, especially the gullet or windpipe.
    • A greater quantitie of victuall is carried from Zeila, [...] and beastes also, as namely sheepe, [...] as also certaine other all white with tayles a fathome long, and writhen like a vine branche, hauing thropples vnder their throtes like bulles.[1600, Al-Hassan ibn-Mohammed al-Wezaz al-Fasi [i.e., Leo Africanus], “A Briefe Relation Concerning the Dominions, Reuenues, Forces, and Maner of Gouernment of Sundry the Greatest Princes either...
    • A broad piece of leather is then to be put round his neck; and the ends made faſt, by platting it, or ſome other way, at the withers, or before the wind-pipe, about two handfuls below the thrapple, betwixt the leather and his neck; [...]1759, Thomas Wallis, “COLT”, in The Farrier’s and Horseman’s Complete Dictionary: […], London: […] W. Owen, […]; and E. Baker, […], →OCLC, column 1

Verb

thrapple (third-person singular simple present thrapples, present participle thrappling, simple past and past participle thrappled)

  1. (Northern England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, dated, transitive) To strangle, to throttle.
    • Then Mr. Weft began his tale, how he had been collared and well nigh thrappled in his ain shop; [...]1827 September, “The Monkey. [From Blackwood’s Magazine.]”, in Oliver Oldschool [pseudonym; John Elihu Hall], editor, The Port Folio, volume II (volume XXII overall), number 293, Philadelphia, Pa....
    • A Scotch writer of the time [Sir James Balfour, 1st Baronet, of Denmilne and Kinnaird] has handed down, for the admiration of successive ages, "the renowned Christian valyancie of those godly women," regretting only that the bishop of Edinburgh escaped being "sticked" or "thrappled‡," by their...1835, “Chapter V. 1637.”, in Dionysius Lardner, editor, The Cabinet Cyclopædia. … History. England. […], volume V, London: […] Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, […]; and John Taylor, […]...

Examples of thrapple in a sentence

  • I hif a gude mind to ſwallow you, gin I kent your back widna ſtick in my thrapple.1781, [Helenus Scott], “The Little Woman in Great-Queen Street”, in The Adventures of a Rupee. […], London: […] J[ohn] Murray, […]...
  • Do you, Maister Francis, opine that ye will re-establish your father's credit by cutting your kinsman's thrapple, or getting your ain sneckit instead thereof in the College-yards of Glasgow?1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Rob Roy. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for...
  • The Master—the deil's in their thrapples that should call him sae! it's Mr.1889, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Summary of Events (continued)”, in The Master of Ballantrae. […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, […]...
  • "God, my lads," he cried, "if I had just my fingers on your thrapples, I'd thraw them fine and send your gutsy sauls to the deil that begat them."1899, John Buchan, “Crabbed Age and Youth”, in A Lost Lady of Old Years: A Romance, London; New York, N.Y.: John Lane, The Bodley Head...

Forms of thrapple

Noun
pluralthrapples
alternative formthropple
Verb
third-person singular presentthrapples
present participlethrappling
past participlethrappled
pastthrappled

Origin of thrapple

The noun is derived from Late Middle English thropul, þropul (“trachea, windpipe”); further etymology uncertain, but possibly a variant of throte-bolle (“laryngeal prominence, Adam’s apple; larynx; epiglottis; animal’s esophagus or neck; flesh covering throat of a deer”) [and other forms] (whence English throat-boll (obsolete)), from Old English þrotbolla [and other forms], from þrote (“throat”) + bolla (“bowl”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“to blow; to swell up”)). The verb is derived from the noun.

Words formed from thrapple

Words that rhyme with thrapple

Questions about thrapple

What does thrapple mean?
Thrapple means the throat, especially the gullet or windpipe.
How do you use thrapple in a sentence?
I hif a gude mind to ſwallow you, gin I kent your back widna ſtick in my thrapple.
What part of speech is thrapple?
Thrapple can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce thrapple?
Thrapple is pronounced /ˈθɹæp(ə)l/ (UK).
What is the plural of thrapple?
The plural of thrapple is thrapples.

Words near thrapple in the dictionary

  1. thranite
  2. thranites
  3. thrap
  4. thrapped
  5. thrapping
  6. thrapple
  7. thrappled
  8. thrapples
  9. thrappling
  10. thraps
  11. Thrapston

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: thrapple (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-thrapple.wav.

Cite this entry: “thrapple.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thrapple. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.