NOOSE

[noun] [C] - one end of a rope tied to form a circle which can be tightened round something such as a person's neck to hang (= kill) themThey put the man on the back of a horse, ran a rope over the branch of a stout tree, looped the noose around his neck and jerked the horse away.He hanged himself in his cell with a noose of sheets tied to the bars.(figurative) The noose (= problem) of poverty was tightening daily.