— chokeable , adj.
/chohk/ , v. , choked, choking , n.
v.t.
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 ).
v.i.
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.
11. choke off , to stop or obstruct by or as by choking: to choke off a nation's fuel supply.
12. 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.
n.
13. the act or sound of choking.
14. a mechanism by which the air supply to the carburetor of an internal-combustion engine can be diminished or stopped.
15. Mach. any mechanism that, by blocking a passage, regulates the flow of air, gas, etc.
16. Elect. See choke coil .
17. a narrowed part, as in a chokebore.
18. the bristly upper portion of the receptacle of the artichoke.
[ 1150-1200; ME choken, cheken, var. of ACHOKEN, ACHEKEN, OE aceocian to suffocate; akin to ON kok gullet ]
Syn. 3. block, dam, plug.