choke   (chōk)    v.   choked, chok·ing, chokes v.   tr. To interfere with the respiration of by compression or obstruction of the larynx or trachea. To check or slow down the movement, growth, or action of: a garden that was choked by weeds. To block up or obstruct by filling or clogging: Mud choked the drainpipe. To fill up completely; jam: Major commuter arteries were choked with stalled traffic. To reduce the air intake of (a carburetor), thereby enriching the fuel mixture. Sports To grip (a bat or racket, for example) at a point nearer the hitting surface. v.   intr. To have difficulty in breathing, swallowing, or speaking. To become blocked up or obstructed. Sports To shorten one's grip on the handle of a bat or racket. Often used with up. To fail to perform effectively because of nervous agitation or tension, especially in an athletic contest: choked by missing an easy putt on the final hole. n.   The act or sound of choking. Something that constricts or chokes. A slight narrowing of the barrel of a shotgun serving to concentrate the shot. A device used in an internal-combustion engine to enrich the fuel mixture by reducing the flow of air to the carburetor. The fibrous inedible center of an artichoke head. Phrasal Verb(s): choke backTo hold back; suppress: choked back his tears. choke offTo bring to an end as if by choking: "Treasury borrowing of existing savings would drive up the interest rate and choke off economic activity" (Paul Craig Roberts). choke upTo be unable to speak because of strong emotion. [Middle English choken, short for achoken, from Old English āceōcian : ā-, intensive pref. + cēoce, cēace, jaw, cheek.]

Choke

Choke\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Choked; p. pr. & vb. n. Choking.] [OE. cheken, choken; cf. AS. [=a]ceocian to suffocate, Icel. koka to gulp, E. chincough, cough.]

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.

To choke off, to stop a person in the execution of a purpose; as, to choke off a speaker by uproar.

choke

v.
1. [common] To reject input, often ungracefully. "NULs make System V's `lpr(1)' choke." "I tried building an EMACS binary to use X, but `cpp(1)' choked on all those `#define's." See barf, gag, vi.
2. [MIT] More generally, to fail at any endeavor, but with some flair or bravado; the popular definition is "to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory."

choke 

Main Entry: ¹choke
Pronunciation: 'chOk
Function: verb
Inflected Forms: choked; chok·ing
transitive senses
: to keep from breathing in a normal way by compressing or obstructing the trachea or by poisoning or adulterating available air choke intransitive senses
: to have the tracheablocked entirely or partly

choke (chōk)
v. choked, chok·ing, chokes

1. To interfere with the respiration of by compression or obstruction of the larynx or trachea.
2. To have difficulty in breathing, swallowing, or speaking.

choke jargon
To fail to process input or, more generally, to fail at any endeavor.
E.g. "NULs make System V's "lpr(1)" choke." See barf, gag.
[The Jargon File]
(2006-09-20)