Choke

Pronunciation

• enPR: chōk, IPA: /t͡ʃəʊk/
• Rhymes: -əʊk

Alternative forms

• choak obsolete
• choake obsolete
• chock dialectal

Origin

From Middle English choken (also cheken), from Old English *ċēocian, 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.

Full definition of choke

Verb

1. (intransitive) To be unable to breathe because of obstruction of the windpipe, for instance food or other objects that go down the wrong way.
2. (transitive) To prevent someone from breathing by strangling or filling the windpipe.
• ShakespeareWith eager feeding food doth choke the feeder.
3. To obstruct by filling up or clogging any passage; to block up.to choke a cave passage with boulders and mud
4. To hinder or check, as growth, expansion, progress, etc.; to stifle.
• DrydenOats and darnel choke the rising corn.
5. (intransitive, fluid mechanics, of a duct) to reach a condition of maximum flowrate, due to the flow at the narrowest point of the duct becoming sonic (Ma = 1).
6. (intransitive) To perform badly at a crucial stage of a competition because one is nervous, especially when one is winning.
7. To move one's fingers very close to the tip of a pencil, brush or other art tool.
8. To be checked, as if by choking; to stick.
• Sir Walter ScottThe words choked in his throat.
9. To affect with a sense of strangulation by passion or strong feeling.
• Jonathan SwiftI was choked at this word.
10. To make a choke, as in a cartridge, or in the bore of the barrel of a shotgun.

Noun

1. A control on a carburetor to adjust the air/fuel mixture when the engine is cold.
2. (sports) In wrestling, karate (etc.), a type of hold that can result in strangulation.
3. A constriction at the muzzle end of a shotgun barrel which affects the spread of the shot.
4. A partial or complete blockage (of boulders, mud, etc.) in a cave passage.

Derived terms

• choker
• choke collar
• unchoke