Quick Definition
πνίγω v. I choke, strangle
Strong's Definition
strengthened from 4154; to wheeze, i.e. (causative, by implication) to throttle or strangle (drown)
KJV Usage: choke, take by the throat
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament
verb | ἀποπνίγω · πνικτός · συμπνίγω
19.53 · Physical Impact · Press
to choke to apply pressure around the neck in order to harm or kill
23.120 · Physiological Processes and States · Live, Die
to cause plants to die (figurative extension of meaning employing the base πνίγω[a] ‘to choke,’ 19.53) to cause the death of plants by other plants crowding them out and/or overshadowing them
23.119 · (πνίγομαι) · Physiological Processes and States · Live, Die
to drown to die as the result of drowning
1 It is possible that ἀποπνίγω and συμπνίγω[a] are somewhat more intensive in meaning than πνίγω[b], but this is difficult, if not impossible, to determine on the basis of NT usage. 2 It is possible that ἀποπνίγομαι differs from πνίγομαι in being somewhat more intensive in meaning, but this cannot be determined with accuracy on the basis of existing contexts.
UBS Dictionary of the Greek New Testament © United Bible Societies, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
πνίγω: : impf. ἔπνιγον ; 1 aor. ἔπνιξα ; impf. pass. 3 pers. plur. ἐπνίγοντο ; a. tochoke, strangle: used of thorns crowd.ny down the seed sown in a field and hindering its crowth, Mt. xiii. 7 T WH mrg.; in the pass. of perishing by drowning (Xen. anab. 5, 7, 25; cf. Joseph. antt. 10, 7,5), Mk. v. 13. b. to wring one’s neck, throtile, ΓΑ. V. to take one by the throat]: Mt. xviii. 28. [Comp.: > > ᾿ ΕΣ dro-, ἐπι-, συμ- πνίγω.]
Mounce Concise Greek Dictionary
πνίγω pnigō 3x
to stifle, suffocate, choke, Mk. 5:13; to seize by the throat, Mk. 13:17; 18:28*
Abbott-Smith Greek Lexicon
πνίγω,
[in LXX: I Ki 16:14, 15 (בּעת pi.)*;]
to choke: c. acc., Mt 13:7 (WH, mg.); impf. (conative), Mt 18:28; of drowning, pass., Mk 5:13 (cf. ἀπο-, ἐπι-, συν-πνίγω).†
Moulton & Milligan — Vocabulary of the Greek NT
πνίγω. The nursery acrostic P Teht II. 2784 (i/A.p.) πνίξωι ἐματόν, ῥιγῶι yap, “1 will choke myself, for it is cold” (Edd.), gives us the word in an elementary stage of educational achievement. Cf. Artem. p. 318 ἢ épetv ἢ πνίγεσθαι. The subst. πνιγμός occurs in a Menander fragment published in PSI II. 126° ἢ :-— τί παθών; χολή, λύπη Tis, ἔκστασις φρενῶν, πνιγμός. 6 , 22 ποιέω
Liddell-Scott-Jones — Greek-English Lexicon
πνίγω (pnigō) — to choke. πνίγ-ω [ῑ], [Refs 5th c.BC+]: imperfect ἔπνῑγον [Refs 5th c.BC+]future πνίξω (ἀπο-) [Refs 5th c.BC+]; Doric dialect 2nd pers. plural future πνιξεῖσθε [Refs 5th c.BC+]aorist ἔπνιξα, imperative πνῖξον, [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive, future πνῐγήσομαι [Refs 5th c.BC+]aorist ἐπνίχθην (ἀπ-) [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; but ἐπνίγην [ῐ] [Refs 5th c.BC+]perfect πέπνιγμαι, see #11.—The simple verb is less frequently than the compound ἀποπνίγω:— choke, throttle, strangle, Sophr.[same place], etc.; of a doctor, πνίγων.. πικρότατα πόματα διδούς [Refs 5th c.BC+]; ἂν ὕλη πνίγῃ [τὸν σῖτον] [Refs 5th c.BC+]:—passive, to be choked, stifled, ἐπνιγόμην τὰ σπλάγχνα [Refs 5th c.BC+]
2. impersonal πνίγει, of great heat, it is stifling, [Refs 4th c.BC+]
3. metaphorically, vex, torment, ἕνα χαλκοῦν ἀποβαλὼν αὑτὸν π. [Refs 1st c.BC+]; ὃ δὲ μάλιστά με πνίγει variant in [Refs 2nd c.AD+]; oppress by exactions, 'squeeze', [Refs 4th c.AD+]
II. cook in a close-covered vessel, bake, stew, [Refs 5th c.BC+]
III. drown [Refs], in passive, [Refs 5th c.BC+]