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choke
10 dictionary results for: choke
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
choke       [chohk] Pronunciation Key verb, choked, chok·ing, noun
–verb (used with object)
1.to stop the breath of by squeezing or obstructing the windpipe; strangle; stifle.
2.to stop by or as if by strangling or stifling: The sudden wind choked his words.
3.to stop by filling; obstruct; clog: Grease choked the drain.
4.to suppress (a feeling, emotion, etc.) (often fol. by back or down): I managed to choke back my tears.
5.to fill chock-full: The storeroom was choked with furniture.
6.to seize (a log, felled tree, etc.) with a chain, cable, or the like, so as to facilitate removal.
7.to enrich the fuel mixture of (an internal-combustion engine) by diminishing the air supply to the carburetor.
8.Sports. to grip (a bat, racket, or the like) farther than usual from the end of the handle; shorten one's grip on (often fol. by up).
–verb (used without object)
9.to suffer from or as from strangling or suffocating: He choked on a piece of food.
10.to become obstructed, clogged, or otherwise stopped: The words choked in her throat.
–noun
11.the act or sound of choking.
12.a mechanism by which the air supply to the carburetor of an internal-combustion engine can be diminished or stopped.
13.Machinery. any mechanism that, by blocking a passage, regulates the flow of air, gas, etc.
14.Electricity. choke coil.
15.a narrowed part, as in a chokebore.
16.the bristly upper portion of the receptacle of the artichoke.
—Verb phrases
17.choke off, to stop or obstruct by or as by choking: to choke off a nation's fuel supply.
18.choke up,
a.to become or cause to become speechless, as from the effect of emotion or stress: She choked up over the sadness of the tale.
b.to become too tense or nervous to perform well: Our team began to choke up in the last inning.
[Origin: 1150–1200; ME choken, cheken, var. of achoken, acheken, OE ācéocian to suffocate; akin to ON kōk gullet]

—Related forms
choke·a·ble, adjective

—Synonyms 3. block, dam, plug.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
choke       (chōk)  Pronunciation Key 
v.   choked, chok·ing, chokes

v.   tr.
  1. To interfere with the respiration of by compression or obstruction of the larynx or trachea.
    1. To check or slow down the movement, growth, or action of: a garden that was choked by weeds.
    2. To block up or obstruct by filling or clogging: Mud choked the drainpipe.
    3. To fill up completely; jam: Major commuter arteries were choked with stalled traffic.
  3. To reduce the air intake of (a carburetor), thereby enriching the fuel mixture.
  4. Sports To grip (a bat or racket, for example) at a point nearer the hitting surface.

v.   intr.
  1. To have difficulty in breathing, swallowing, or speaking.
  2. To become blocked up or obstructed.
  3. Sports To shorten one's grip on the handle of a bat or racket. Often used with up.
  4. 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.  
  1. The act or sound of choking.
    1. Something that constricts or chokes.
    2. A slight narrowing of the barrel of a shotgun serving to concentrate the shot.
  3. A device used in an internal-combustion engine to enrich the fuel mixture by reducing the flow of air to the carburetor.
  4. The fibrous inedible center of an artichoke head.

Phrasal Verb(s):
choke back
To hold back; suppress: choked back his tears.
choke off
To 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 up
To 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.]

(Download Now or Buy the Book)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
choke 
c.1200, aphetic of acheken, from O.E. aceocian "to choke" (with intensive a-), probably from base of ceoke "jaw, cheek." Meaning "valve which controls air to a carburetor" first recorded 1926. Choke-cherry (1785) so called for its astringent qualities. Choker "large neckerchief" is from 1848.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
choke

noun
1. a coil of low resistance and high inductance used in electrical circuits to pass direct current and attenuate alternating current 
2. a valve that controls the flow of air into the carburetor of a gasoline engine 

verb
1. breathe with great difficulty, as when experiencing a strong emotion; "She choked with emotion when she spoke about her deceased husband" 
2. be too tight; rub or press; "This neckband is choking the cat" 
3. wring the neck of; "The man choked his opponent" 
4. constrict (someone's) throat and keep from breathing 
5. struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake; "he swallowed a fishbone and gagged" [syn: gag] 
6. fail to perform adequately due to tension or agitation; "The team should have won hands down but choked, disappointing the coach and the audience" 
7. check or slow down the action or effect of; "She choked her anger" 
8. become or cause to become obstructed; "The leaves clog our drains in the Fall"; "The water pipe is backed up" [syn: clog] [ant: unclog] 
9. impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of; "The foul air was slowly suffocating the children" [syn: suffocate] 
10. become stultified, suppressed, or stifled; "He is suffocating--living at home with his aged parents in the small village" [syn: suffocate] 
11. suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of; "His job suffocated him" [syn: suffocate] 
12. pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life; "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" [syn: die] [ant: be born] 
13. reduce the air supply; "choke a carburetor" 
14. cause to retch or choke [syn: gag] 

WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
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American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

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.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

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)

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Jargon File - Cite This Source - Share This

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."

Jargon File 4.2.0
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

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.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Choke

Choke\, v. i. 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.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Choke

Choke\, n. 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's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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