strangle hold

• POS: Noun Phrase

CIDE DICTIONARY

strangle hold,  

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