Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) to strike someone hard across the throat, usu. using the edge of the hand; thus attrib. use in cit. 1974.

1964		in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dict. (1998).
1974		R. Blount About Three Bricks Shy of a Load 109: Bergey’s a clothesline guy. [...] He does little goofy shit. A guy recovers a fumble and Bergey’ll push him.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak 40: Clothesline – move in professional wrestling where one man comes off the ropes at speed and is seemingly hit in the throat by the other.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 36: Maybe I clotheslined her when she called me that name.
1999		T. Dorsey Florida Roadkill 245: Serge clotheslined the first one with an elbow to the Adam’s apple.
2003		N. Green Angel of Montague Street (2004) 60: He [...] clotheslined his pursuer just as he got to the top step.
2008		T. Dorsey Atomic Lobster 16: He swung the crowbar, clothes-lining the thief in the adam’s apple.
2017		Eve. Standard (London) 31 Jan. 🌐 [headline] Ex-soldier: how I ‘clotheslined’ robbery suspect at scene of smash-and-grab.
2019		C.D. Rosales Word Is Bone [ebook] Spanky clotheslined him over the barrier. His heels shot skyward. He fell into the pit.
2021		T. Pluck Boy from County Hell 341: Woody cut left and the bull cut right, clotheslining the portable toilet.