meaning

[chrysanthemum]

The man was strangled to death by the boa constrictor. Does it mean that the man died or no he survived?
Thanks

[virus99]

It means that the man is dead. He was strangled until he was dead.

[Rover_KE]

Please give your threads more pertinent titles. We don't charge by the word.

The man was strangled to death by the boa constrictor would have been a great, eyecatching title for this question.

Rover

[emsr2d2]

The man was strangled to death by the boa constrictor. Does it mean that the man died or no he survived?
Thanks

Anything (literal) followed by "to death" means the result was that the person died.

He was stabbed to death.
He was shot to death.
He was strangled to death.
He was beaten to death.
He was trampled to death.

If the person didn't die, we can modify it with "almost/nearly" etc.

He was strangled almost to death.
He was trampled nearly to death.
He was stabbed almost to death.

You need to be careful with the placement of "nearly/almost".

He was strangled almost to death = He was strangled and he almost died.
He was almost strangled to death = He came close to a situation where he would have been strangled to death but he wasn't.

He was trampled nearly to death = He was trampled until he almost died.
He was nearly trampled to death = He was close to a situation where he could have been trampled to death. He might have been caught up in it. He might not. It's ambiguous.

Note that we do use it metaphorically too:

I love you to death = I love you a lot.
He talked me to death = He talked and talked until I was very bored (and wished I were dead!)