Word: choke Part of Speech: verb 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. Pronunciation: /t͡ʃəʊk/, /t͡ʃoʊk/ 1. 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). Labels: intransitive Example: Ever since he choked on a bone, he has refused to eat fish. Example: Lenore began to choke with the fine dust and to feel her eyes smart and to see it settle on her hands and dress. 2. To prevent (someone) from breathing or talking by strangling or filling the windpipe. Labels: transitive Example: The collar of this shirt is too tight; it’s choking me. Example: With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder: 3. To obstruct (a passage, etc.) by filling it up or clogging it. Labels: transitive Example: to choke a cave passage with boulders and mud Example: This was a Passage, so rugged, so uneven, and choaked with so many Thorns and Briars, that it was a melancholy Spectacle to behold the Pains and Difficulties which both Sexes suffered who walked through it. 4. 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). Labels: transitive Example: Now ’tis the spring, and weeds are shallow-rooted; Suffer them now, and they’ll o’ergrow the garden And choke the herbs for want of husbandry. Example: And some [seeds] fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 5. To perform badly at a crucial stage of a competition, especially when one appears to be clearly winning. Labels: colloquial, intransitive Example: He has a lot of talent, but he tends to choke under pressure. 6. To move one's fingers very close to the tip of a pencil, brush or other art tool. Labels: transitive Example: A brief tryout will demonstrate that the modified grip does indeed make it difficult to “choke” the pencil or apply excessive pressure to the paper. 7. To hold the club or bat lower on the shaft in order to shorten one's swing. Labels: transitive Example: Take a grip with your right hand, slightly choked down from your normal grip. 8. To be checked or stopped, as if by choking Labels: intransitive Example: […] the words choked in his throat. Example: Speech choked in Eugene’s throat. 9. To check or stop (an utterance or voice) as if by choking. Labels: transitive Example: A hundred times fain he would have spoke, but still his rising Passion choak’d his Words; Example: […] tears choked the utterance of the dame de compagnie, and she buried her crushed affections and her poor old red nose in her pocket handkerchief. 10. To have a feeling of strangulation in one's throat as a result of passion or strong emotion. Labels: intransitive Example: Grobstock began to choke with chagrin. Example: 2007, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Wizard of the Crow, New York: Knopf Doubleday, Book 3, p. 435, Tajirika felt himself choking with anger. How dare those hussies interfere with his business? 11. To give (someone) a feeling of strangulation as a result of passion or strong emotion. Labels: transitive Example: […] I am very sensible how much the Gentlemen of Wit and Pleasure are apt to murmur, and be choqued at the Sight of so many daggled-tail Parsons, who happen to fall in their Way, and offend their Eyes […] Example: I shall run distracted. My rage choaks me. 12. To say (something) with one’s throat constricted (due to emotion, for example). Labels: transitive Example: ‘There is the padre!’ Kim choked as bare-headed Father Victor sailed down upon them from the veranda. Example: “The bastards!” he choked. “I hope they are all caught and hanged!” 13. To use the choke valve of (a vehicle) to adjust the air/fuel mixture in the engine. Labels: transitive Example: The engine caught, spluttered, and roared as Tom choked the car delicately. 14. To reach a condition of maximum flowrate, due to the flow at the narrowest point of the duct becoming sonic (Ma = 1). Labels: intransitive 15. To make or install a choke, as in a cartridge, or in the bore of the barrel of a shotgun.