choke down

choke

[chohk] 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 followed 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 followed 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.
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a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
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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; Middle English choken, cheken, variant of achoken, acheken, Old English ācēocian to suffocate; akin to Old Norse kōk gullet

Related forms
choke·a·ble, adjective
in·ter·choke, verb (used with object), in·ter·choked, in·ter·chok·ing.
un·choke·a·ble, adjective
un·choked, adjective

Synonyms
3. block, dam, plug.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To choke down
Collins
World English Dictionary
choke (tʃəʊk) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—vb
1.  (tr) to hinder or stop the breathing of (a person or animal), esp by constricting the windpipe or by asphyxiation
2.  (intr) to have trouble or fail in breathing, swallowing, or speaking
3.  (tr) to block or clog up (a passage, pipe, street, etc)
4.  (tr) to retard the growth or action of: the weeds are choking my plants
5.  (tr) to suppress (emotion): she choked her anger
6.  slang (intr) to die
7.  (tr) to enrich the petrol-air mixture by reducing the air supply to (a carburettor, petrol engine, etc)
8.  (intr) (esp in sport) to be seized with tension and fail to perform well
 
—n
9.  the act or sound of choking
10.  a device in the carburettor of a petrol engine that enriches the petrol-air mixture by reducing the air supply
11.  any constriction or mechanism for reducing the flow of a fluid in a pipe, tube, etc
12.  electronics Also called: choke coil an inductor having a relatively high impedance, used to prevent the passage of high frequencies or to smooth the output of a rectifier
13.  the inedible centre of the head of an artichoke
 
[Old English ācēocian, of Germanic origin; related to cheek]
 
'chokeable
 
—adj

choke back or choke down
 
—vb
(tr, adverb) to suppress (anger, tears, etc)
 
choke down or choke down
 
—vb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
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, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
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
Slang Dictionary

choke definition


  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.
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