choke

Meaning

Verb

1. (intransitive) To be unable to breathe because of obstruction of the windpipe (for instance food or other objects that go down the wrong way, or fumes or particles in the air that cause the throat to constrict).
2. (transitive) To prevent (someone) from breathing or talking by strangling or filling the windpipe.
3. (transitive) To obstruct (a passage, etc.) by filling it up or clogging it.
4. (transitive) To hinder or check, as growth, expansion, progress, etc.; to kill (a plant by robbing it of nutrients); to extinguish (fire by robbing it of oxygen).
5. (colloquial, intransitive) To perform badly at a crucial stage of a competition, especially when one appears to be clearly winning.
6. (transitive) To move one's fingers very close to the tip of a pencil, brush or other art tool.
7. (transitive) To hold the club or bat lower on the shaft in order to shorten one's swing.
8. (intransitive) To be checked or stopped, as if by choking
9. (transitive) To check or stop (an utterance or voice) as if by choking.
10. (intransitive) To have a feeling of strangulation in one's throat as a result of passion or strong emotion.
11. (transitive) To give (someone) a feeling of strangulation as a result of passion or strong emotion.
12. (transitive) To say (something) with one’s throat constricted (due to emotion, for example).
13. (transitive) To use the choke valve of (a vehicle) to adjust the air/fuel mixture in the engine.
14. (intransitive) To reach a condition of maximum flowrate, due to the flow at the narrowest point of the duct becoming sonic (Ma = 1).
15. To make or install a choke, as in a cartridge, or in the bore of the barrel of a shotgun.

Noun

1. A control on a carburetor to adjust the air/fuel mixture when the engine is cold.
2. In wrestling, karate (etc.), a type of hold that can result in strangulation.
3. A constriction at the muzzle end of a shotgun barrel which affects the spread of the shot.
4. A partial or complete blockage (of boulders, mud, etc.) in a cave passage.
5. A choking coil.
6. A major mistake at a crucial stage of a competition because one is nervous, especially when one is winning.

Noun

The mass of immature florets in the centre of the bud of an artichoke.

Synonyms

strangle

suffocate

throttle

stifle

block

smother

gag

clog

asphyxiate

snuff it

buy the farm

cash in one’s chips

croak

pass away

pass

exit

congest

pop off

expire

perish

suppress

quell

conk

drop dead

die

💀

decease

kick the bucket

go

strangulate

squeeze

scrag

suffocation

drown

stop

🛑

give-up the ghost

strangler

choke off

choke coil

stopper

stop up

stuff

ring down the curtain

press

swallow

fill

tamp

pass on

demise

choking coil

plug

Translations

ersticken

étouffer

soffocare

ahogar

würgen

suffoquer

estrangular

erdrosseln

étrangler

sufocar

sofocar

strozzare

verstikken

ofegar

sufocar

Pronounced as (IPA)

/t͡ʃəʊk/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: choken

Inherited from Old English: āċēocian

Inherited from Old English: ċēoce

Cognate with Icelandic: kok

In summary

From Middle English choken (also cheken), from earlier acheken, from Old English āċēocian (“to choke”), probably derived from Old English ċēoce, ċēace (“jaw, cheek”), see cheek. Cognate with Icelandic kok (“throat”), koka (“to gulp”). See also achoke.