choke

[chohk]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR choke ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object), choked, chok·ing.

to stop the breath of by squeezing or obstructing the windpipe; strangle; stifle.

to stop by or as if by strangling or stifling: The sudden wind choked his words.

to stop by filling; obstruct; clog: Grease choked the drain.

to suppress (a feeling, emotion, etc.) (often followed by back or down): I managed to choke back my tears.

to fill chock-full: The storeroom was choked with furniture.

to seize (a log, felled tree, etc.) with a chain, cable, or the like, so as to facilitate removal.

to enrich the fuel mixture of (an internal-combustion engine) by diminishing the air supply to the carburetor.

Sports. to grip (a bat, racket, or the like) farther than usual from the end of the handle; shorten one's grip on (often followed by up).

verb (used without object), choked, chok·ing.

to suffer from or as from strangling or suffocating: He choked on a piece of food.

to become obstructed, clogged, or otherwise stopped: The words choked in her throat.

noun

the act or sound of choking.

a mechanism by which the air supply to the carburetor of an internal-combustion engine can be diminished or stopped.

Machinery. any mechanism that, by blocking a passage, regulates the flow of air, gas, etc.

Electricity. choke coil.

a narrowed part, as in a chokebore.

the bristly upper portion of the receptacle of the artichoke.

Verb Phrases

choke off, to stop or obstruct by or as by choking: to choke off a nation's fuel supply.

choke up,

to become or cause to become speechless, as from the effect of emotion or stress: She choked up over the sadness of the tale.
to become too tense or nervous to perform well: Our team began to choke up in the last inning.

Origin of choke

1150–1200; Middle English choken, cheken, variant of achoken, acheken, Old English ācēocian to suffocate; akin to Old Norse kōk gullet

Related formschoke·a·ble, adjectivein·ter·choke, verb (used with object), in·ter·choked, in·ter·chok·ing.un·choke·a·ble, adjectiveun·choked, adjective

Synonyms for choke

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR choke ON THESAURUS.COM

3. block, dam, plug.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for choke

clog, congest, drown, suffocate, kill, gag, gasp, strangle, stifle, fill, obstruct, close, check, overpower, suppress, noose, occlude, asphyxiate, dam, stop

Examples from the Web for choke

Contemporary Examples of choke

He then began to choke her, and as she lost consciousness it must have seemed that his might be the last face she would ever see.
The Girls Who Were Taken Before Hannah Graham
Michael Daly
September 30, 2014
According to their friend, producer/filmmaker Choke No Joke, it was over a mutual flame.
Did Beyoncé Just Accuse Jay Z of Cheating?
Marlow Stern
July 2, 2014
Shiomura continued to speak even though she had to choke back tears at one point.
Japanese Parliament to Women: Breed, Don't Lead
Jake Adelstein, Angela Erika Kubo
June 22, 2014
A new Kimberley Process working group to monitor CAR might help focus attention on the guilty and choke the diamond flow.
The Curse of CAR: Warlords, Blood Diamonds, and Dead Elephants
Christopher Day
May 25, 2014
Banks must then ‘choke off’ those customers' access to financial services, shutting down their accounts.
The Banks’ War on Porn Stars
Richard Abowitz, Marlow Stern
May 7, 2014

Historical Examples of choke

The touch, the choke in her voice, brought about Viviette's downfall.
Viviette
William J. Locke
I am weary of the earth-damps; they burden me; they choke me!
Other Tales and Sketches
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Cornelius was in fits of laughter, which he scarcely tried to choke.
Weighed and Wanting
George MacDonald
If we don't do something, I'll go in and choke the truth out of that old reprobate.
The Inn at the Red Oak
Latta Griswold
I have been running, and the words seem to choke me as I speak.
Henry Dunbar
M. E. Braddon

British Dictionary definitions for choke

choke

verb

(tr) to hinder or stop the breathing of (a person or animal), esp by constricting the windpipe or by asphyxiation

(intr) to have trouble or fail in breathing, swallowing, or speaking

(tr) to block or clog up (a passage, pipe, street, etc)

(tr) to retard the growth or action ofthe weeds are choking my plants

(tr) to suppress (emotion)she choked her anger

(intr) slang to die

(tr) to enrich the petrol-air mixture by reducing the air supply to (a carburettor, petrol engine, etc)

(intr) (esp in sport) to be seized with tension and fail to perform well

noun

the act or sound of choking

a device in the carburettor of a petrol engine that enriches the petrol-air mixture by reducing the air supply

any constriction or mechanism for reducing the flow of a fluid in a pipe, tube, etc

Also called: choke coil electronics an inductor having a relatively high impedance, used to prevent the passage of high frequencies or to smooth the output of a rectifier

the inedible centre of the head of an artichoke

Word Origin for choke

Old English ācēocian, of Germanic origin; related to cheek

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for choke

c.1300, transitive, "to strangle;" late 14c., "to make to suffocate," of persons as well as swallowed objects, a shortening of acheken (c.1200), from Old English aceocian "to choke, suffocate" (with intensive a-), probably from root of ceoke "jaw, cheek" (see cheek (n.)).

Intransitive sense from c.1400. Meaning "gasp for breath" is from early 15c. Figurative use from c.1400, in early use often with reference to weeds stifling the growth of useful plants (a Biblical image). Meaning "to fail in the clutch" is attested by 1976, American English. Related: Choked; choking. Choke-cherry (1785) supposedly so called for its astringent qualities. Johnson also has choke-pear "Any aspersion or sarcasm, by which another person is put to silence." Choked up "overcome with emotion and unable to speak" is attested by 1896. The baseball batting sense is by 1907.

1560s, "quinsy," from choke (v.). Meaning "action of choking" is from 1839. Meaning "valve which controls air to a carburetor" first recorded 1926.

choke in Medicine

choke

[chōk]

v.

To interfere with the respiration of by compression or obstruction of the larynx or trachea.

To have difficulty in breathing, swallowing, or speaking.