A strap is a strip, usually of fabric or leather. Strip can refer to: as a noun a long narrow piece cut from a sheet material (metal plastic plywood etc) a power strip a landing strip a comic strip other items of a similar shape to that above e. ... A variety of fabric. ... Modern leather-working tools Leather is a material created through the tanning of hides, pelts and skins of animals, primarily cows. ...

Binding straps

Thin straps are used as part of clothing or baggage, or bedding such as a sleeping bag. See for example spaghetti strap, shoulder strap. A strap differs from a belt mainly in that a strap is usually integral to the item of clothing; either can be used in combination with buckles. (See also List of types of clothing and Clothing terminology) Humans nearly universally wear articles of clothing (also known as dress, garments, or attire) on the body. ... Luggage is any number of bags, cases and containers which hold a travellers articles during transit. ... In camping and other outdoor activities, a sleeping bag is a protective bag for sleeping, analogous to a bed. ... Spaghetti straps are kind of narrow straps used in tank tops, cocktail dresses, evening gowns etc. ... A shoulder strap is a piece of fabric used to support clothing or other items from the shoulder of the wearer. ... A belt A belt is a flexible band, made of either leather or a type of cloth, worn around the waist. ... For the English historian, see Henry Thomas Buckle A buckle is a clasp used for fastening two things together, such as the ends of a belt, or for retaining the end of a strap. ...

Straps are also used to attach and bind items, to objects, animals (for example a saddle on a horse) and people, or even to tie down people and animals, as on an apparatus for corporal punishment. See: A saddle is a seat for a rider fastened to a horses back. ...

• The word "Strap" is also a street slang term for a hand gun or pistol.

• See also: strap-on, bootstrapping

Strap-On can be used to describe more than one thing: Strap On Dildo (a sex toy). ... Bootstrapping alludes to a German legend about a Baron Münchhausen, who was able to lift himself out of a swamp by pulling himself up by his own hair. ...

Disciplinary strapping

As an implement of severe corporal punishment, which is then called strapping after it (alongside more general terms as lashing, and confusingly, even in some official language, words like belting -in principle a belt is lighter, without a handle-, whipping and even paddling, all strictly speaking reserved for other implements), it is a particularly, broad and heavy strip of leather whipping device often with a hard handle while the more flexible 'blade' whips the flesh of the victim. Probably because of the stiffness the word is sometimes used interchangeably with a leather paddle (spanking). In stead of having one specially made one can also, especially in a private sphere, use an object of the same stirrup leather, say in a stable; like the Scottish tawse (which is a forked version with two or more tails) both aze likely to be suppllied by a saddlemaker. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Belting is the substantive derived from the verb to Belt, and hence has the same heterogenous meanings. ... The term whipping has multiple meanings. ... Holed paddle designed for spanking. ... Holed paddle designed for spanking. ... Haniwa horse statuette, complete with saddle and stirrups, 6th century, Kofun period, Japan. ...

• The real thing, usually made for institutional use, is also known as prison strap because it was mainly used on adult convicts (for discipline within the prison system, or as an original judicial corporal punishment, often combined with prison time, imposed by court but carried out by prison staff), notably in the USA (mainly the South, e.g. Arkansas at least still 1967; sometimes a spanking inflicted on the trousers, sometimes bare bottom; also used on the back) and Canada (till 1972; a spanking on the bare buttocks or stark naked), but also on minors in reformatories (on the trousers seat or on the bare buttocks) and in schools (particularly in Canada, on the hand, still reported in 2000).

• Because of the forceful impact it makes, which can easily knock the recipient out of balance and fall over (reported by strapped punishees who were ordered to take it while grabbing their ankles), the victim is usually supported in a bending or lying position, often tied down, e.g. over a table or punishment horse, or against a whipping post.

• like the holed paddle, there is a version with holes in it, which intentionally increases the risk and severity of blistering if administered on the bare skin
• an even crueler modification is to fix metal brads on the leather, which can cut into the flesh (as on a Roman plumbata or colonial chicote, or the knots in the thongs of a cat o' nine tails which were only for the gravest offenses) - only known from Colorado State Prison in Canon City, as illustrated [1] circa 1900, where it was called paddle

• Possibly again because of the gravity of this form of flogging, and probably for other historical reasons, it was never very popular in domestic (mainly child) or non-punitive discipline, where the bare hand, paddle and pervertibles (such as slippering) are often preferred; strappings are rather reserved (like caning and birching) for the gravest offences, and/or applied with a lighter model (comparable in effect with a non-doubled belting) and/or clad.

The derived verb to strap means to use or apply a strap, such as to bind something or to inflict a strapping Spanking (or smacking, whacking, etc. ... Spanking (or smacking, whacking, etc. ... Spanking (or smacking, whacking, etc. ... View of the Pillory in the Market-place of Paris in the Sixteenth Century, after a Drawing by an unknown Artist of 1670. ... Paddle designed for spanking. ... The sjambok is the traditional heavy leather whip of South Africa, sometimes seens as synonymous with Apartheid but actually much older and still used outside the offiical judiciary. ...

Sources and references

• article in three linking parts on Canadian prison strappings; various other material concerning strapping on this website on corporal punishment, use search etc.