Choke \Choke\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Choked; p. pr. & vb. n.
Choking.]
[OE. cheken, choken; cf. AS. [=a]ceocian to
suffocate, Icel. koka to gulp, E. chincough, cough.]
1. To render unable to breathe by filling, pressing upon, or
squeezing the windpipe; to stifle; to suffocate; to
strangle.
With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder.
--Shak.
2. To obstruct by filling up or clogging any passage; to
block up. --Addison.
3. To hinder or check, as growth, expansion, progress, etc.;
to stifle.
Oats and darnel choke the rising corn. --Dryden.
4. To affect with a sense of strangulation by passion or
strong feeling. ``I was choked at this word.'' --Swift.
5. To make a choke, as in a cartridge, or in the bore of the
barrel of a shotgun.
To choke off, to stop a person in the execution of a
purpose; as, to choke off a speaker by uproar.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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