Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 11th Edition
STRAP
I. noun
Etymology: alteration of strop, from Middle English, band or loop of leather or rope, from Old English, thong for securing an oar, from Latin struppus band, strap, from Greek strophos twisted band, from strephein to twist
Date: 1602
1. a narrow usually flat strip or thong of a flexible material and especially leather used for securing, holding together, or wrapping, something made of a strap forming a loop , a strip of leather used for flogging, strop , a band, plate, or loop of metal for binding objects together or for clamping an object in position, a shoe fastened with a usually buckled strap, trollop , strappy adjective
II. transitive verb (strapped; strapping)
Date: 1711
1. a. to secure with or attach by means of a strap, to support (as a sprained joint) with overlapping strips of adhesive plaster, bind , constrict , to beat or punish with a strap, strop , to cause to suffer from an extreme scarcity