choke Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a coil of low resistance and high inductance used in electrical circuits to pass direct current and attenuate alternating current
    choke coil; choking coil.
  2. noun a valve that controls the flow of air into the carburetor of a gasoline engine
  3. verb breathe with great difficulty, as when experiencing a strong emotion
    • She choked with emotion when she spoke about her deceased husband
  4. verb be too tight; rub or press
    gag; fret.
    • This neckband is choking the cat
  5. verb wring the neck of
    scrag.
    • The man choked his opponent
  6. verb constrict (someone's) throat and keep from breathing
    strangle.
  7. verb struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake
    gag; strangle; suffocate.
    • he swallowed a fishbone and gagged
  8. verb fail to perform adequately due to tension or agitation
    • The team should have won hands down but choked, disappointing the coach and the audience
  9. verb check or slow down the action or effect of
    • She choked her anger
  10. verb become or cause to become obstructed
    clog; congest; foul; clog up; choke off; back up.
    • The leaves clog our drains in the Fall
    • The water pipe is backed up
  11. verb impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of
    stifle; suffocate; asphyxiate.
    • The foul air was slowly suffocating the children
  12. verb become stultified, suppressed, or stifled
    suffocate.
    • He is suffocating--living at home with his aged parents in the small village
  13. verb suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of
    suffocate.
    • His job suffocated him
  14. verb pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life
    decease; give-up the ghost; pop off; perish; die; buy the farm; snuff it; drop dead; pass away; expire; exit; croak; pass; go; kick the bucket; conk; cash in one's chips.
    • She died from cancer
    • The children perished in the fire
    • The patient went peacefully
    • The old guy kicked the bucket at the age of 102
  15. verb reduce the air supply
    throttle.
    • choke a carburetor
  16. verb cause to retch or choke
    gag.

WordNet

Choke transitive verb
Etymology
OE. cheken, choken; cf. AS. aceocian to suffocate, Icel. koka to gulp, E. chincough, cough.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Choked ; present participle & verbal noun Choking
Definitions
  1. To render unable to breathe by filling, pressing upon, or squeezing the windpipe; to stifle; to suffocate; to strangle.
    With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder. Shak.
  2. To obstruct by filling up or clogging any passage; to block up. Addison.
  3. To hinder or check, as growth, expansion, progress, etc.; to stifle.
    Oats and darnel choke the rising corn. Dryden.
  4. To affect with a sense of strangulation by passion or strong feeling. "I was choked at this word." Swift.
  5. To make a choke, as in a cartridge, or in the bore of the barrel of a shotgun.
Choke intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To have the windpipe stopped; to have a spasm of the throat, caused by stoppage or irritation of the windpipe; to be strangled.
  2. To be checked, as if by choking; to stick.
    The words choked in his throat. Sir W. Scott.
Choke noun
Definitions
  1. A stoppage or irritation of the windpipe, producing the feeling of strangulation.
  2. (Gun.) (a) The tied end of a cartridge. (b) A constriction in the bore of a shotgun, case of a rocket, etc.

Webster 1913