Dictionary
Thesaurus
Encyclopedia
Translator
Web
Related Searches
Synonyms
Nearby Words

choke up

 - 7 dictionary results

choke

  [chohk] verb, choked, chok⋅ing, noun
Use choke up in a Sentence
–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 ācēocian to suffocate; akin to ON kōk gullet

Related forms:
choke⋅a⋅ble, adjective

Synonyms:
3. block, dam, plug.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To choke up
choke   (chōk)   
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 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.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary
choke

  1. in.
    [for a computer] to fail to take in information being fed to it. (Computers.) : If you don't have your modem and your software set the same way as the host, your machine will choke.
  2. in.
    to panic before or during a test. (From choke up.) : She always chokes during a test.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

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
Cite This Source
Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: 2choke
Function: noun
1 : the act of choking
2 chokes pl : decompression sickness when marked bysuffocation —used with the
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
Cite This Source
Medical Dictionary

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.
Cite This Source
Idioms & Phrases

choke up

  1. Block a channel or other passage, as in Vegetation choked up the creek like a dam. [Late 1600s]

  2. Be too emotional or upset to speak, as in She became so emotional about winning that she choked up and was unable to give an interview.

  3. Become too nervous or tense in a critical situation to perform, as in He's fine during practice but in a match he tends to choke up. This usage, also put as to choke alone, is especially common in sports. [Colloquial; mid-1900s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Search another word or see choke up on Thesaurus | Reference
FacebookTwitterFollow us:
Partner Sites:
Ask AnswersEviteExpediaHotelsHotwireLife123LiveDailyMy Way