choke up
to block (a drain, pipe, etc) completely
informal (usually passive) to overcome (a person) with emotion, esp without due cause
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
How to use choke up in a sentence
“Thinking about that makes me emotional,” he says and begins to choke up.
Adrien Brody Do choke up, ideally while thanking your mother.
Coffee Jack, shovel in hand, kept the larger stones moving when they threatened to choke up the boxes.
Gold-Seeking on the Dalton Trail | Arthur R. ThompsonAnd shall we give a little running water, and turn aside or choke up the streams of knowledge?
Thoughts on Educational Topics and Institutions | George S. BoutwellAt other times, they would choke up, ceasing to breathe until they were black in the face, and we thought they would surely die.
Early Scenes in Church History | Various
They choke up after a while, and fresh ones appear in another part of the area, thus keeping the whole clear of plants.
At Last | Charles KingsleyWhen a rock is cleft, the fragments half choke up the waters that gush through them.
The Gold Brick | Ann S. Stephens
Other Idioms and Phrases with choke up
Block a channel or other passage, as in Vegetation choked up the creek like a dam. [Late 1600s]
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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