strapped

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Verb

strapped

1. simple past and past participle of strap

Adjective

strapped (not comparable)

1. (sometimes in combination) Having a strap or straps.
   • 2002, Caroline Bunker Rosdahl, Mary T. Kowalski, Textbook of Basic Nursing, page 917:

     The pregnant woman should wear a wide-strapped bra that supports the breasts without causing nipple pressure.

2. (of a person, informal) Muscular.
3. (slang) Armed; carrying a weapon.
   • 1989 April 4, Slick Rick, “Children's Story”, in The Great Adventures of Slick Rick‎:

     Punched him in his belly and he gave him a slap, / But little did he know the lil' boy was strapped, / The kid pulled out a gun, he said "Why did ya hit me?" / The barrel was set straight for the cop's kidney

   • 2006 October 15, “Margin of Error” (43:48 from the start), in The Wire, season 4, episode 6 (television production), spoken by Omar Little (Michael K. Williams), via HBO:

     I ain't gonna be out here strapped.

4. (slang) Poor; broke.

   Synonyms: cash-strapped, strapped for cash

   • 2010 January 4, Janet Poppendieck, Free for All: Fixing School Food in America, Univ of California Press, →ISBN, page 9:

     Families struggling to meet mortgage payments or pay for health care can easily find themselves too strapped to take advantage of school meals, even though they are a bargain.

Synonyms

• (muscular): ripped
• (without money): see also Thesaurus:impoverished

Derived terms

• cash strapped
• cash-strapped
• strapped for money