choke
UK /t͡ʃəʊk/ · US /t͡ʃoʊk/ verb, noun
Forms chokes choking choked choak choake chock
- verb (intransitive) To be unable to breathe because of obstruction of the windpipe (for instance food or other objects that go down the wrong way, or fumes or particles in the air that cause the throat to constrict). “Ever since he choked on a bone, he has refused to eat fish.”
- verb (transitive) To prevent (someone) from breathing or talking by strangling or filling the windpipe. “The collar of this shirt is too tight; it’s choking me.”
- verb (transitive) To obstruct (a passage, etc.) by filling it up or clogging it. “to choke a cave passage with boulders and mud”
- verb (transitive) To hinder or check, as growth, expansion, progress, etc.; to kill (a plant by robbing it of nutrients); to extinguish (fire by robbing it of oxygen).
- verb (intransitive, colloquial) To perform badly at a crucial stage of a competition, especially when one appears to be clearly winning. “He has a lot of talent, but he tends to choke under pressure.”
- verb (transitive) To move one's fingers very close to the tip of a pencil, brush or other art tool.
- verb (golf, baseball, transitive) To hold the club or bat lower on the shaft in order to shorten one's swing.
- verb (intransitive) To be checked or stopped, as if by choking
- noun A control on a carburetor to adjust the air/fuel mixture when the engine is cold.
- noun (sports) In wrestling, karate (etc.), a type of hold that can result in strangulation.
- noun A constriction at the muzzle end of a shotgun barrel which affects the spread of the shot.
- noun A partial or complete blockage (of boulders, mud, etc.) in a cave passage.
- noun (electronics) A choking coil.
- noun A major mistake at a crucial stage of a competition because one is nervous, especially when one is winning.
- noun The mass of immature florets in the centre of the bud of an artichoke.
Synonyms
asphyxiate strangle suffocate throttle block up bung up clog congest jam obstruct stop up choke out stifle stick choke coil choking coil gag fret scrag choke off clog up back up foul die decease perish go exit pass away expire
Etymology
From Middle English choken (also cheken), from earlier acheken, from Old English āċēocian (“to choke”), probably derived from Old English ċēoce, ċēace (“jaw, cheek”), see cheek. Cognate with Icelandic kok (“throat”), koka (“to gulp”). See also achoke.
Back-formation from artichoke.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To render unable to breathe by filling, pressing upon, or squeezing the windpipe; to stifle; to suffocate; to strangle.
- verb To obstruct by filling up or clogging any passage; to block up. Addison.
- verb To have the windpipe stopped; to have a spasm of the throat, caused by stoppage or irritation of the windpipe; to be strangled.
- verb To be checked, as if by choking; to stick.
Etymology [OE. cheken, choken; cf. AS. aceocian to suffocate, Icel. koka to gulp, E. chincough, cough.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “choke”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details