choke up

verb

1. to block (a drain, pipe, etc) completely

2. informal,  (usually passive) to overcome (a person) with emotion, esp without due cause

Idioms and Phrases

Block a channel or other passage, as in Vegetation choked up the creek like a dam . [Late 1600s]

Be too emotional or upset to speak, as in She became so emotional about winning that she choked up and was unable to give an interview .

Become too nervous or tense in a critical situation to perform, as in He's fine during practice but in a match he tends to choke up . This usage, also put as to choke alone, is especially common in sports. [ Colloquial ; mid-1900s]

Example Sentences

“I was shocked and choked up. I cried the entire way home.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

She choked up recalling how her immigrant father told her recently: "I feel like we went back 50 years in time."

Read more on Barron's

By Saturday morning, the rescue mission had shifted to a recovery operation, said Davis, who was visibly choked up.

Read more on BBC

On Tuesday, Kimmel choked up as he told viewers it was "never my intention to make light of the murder of a young man".

Read more on BBC

“Watching him get choked up when he started talking about the teammates — it was just a crazy feeling in that room,” pitcher Tyler Glasnow recounted from Thursday’s announcement.

Read more on Los Angeles Times