chokes

chokes [chohks] SynonymsExamplesWord Origin noun Informal.

1. a manifestation of caisson disease that is characterized by dyspnea, coughing, and choking.

Origin of chokes see origin at choke, -s3 choke [chohk] verb (used with object), choked, chok·ing.

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), choked, chok·ing.

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,
    1. to become or cause to become speechless, as from the effect of emotion or stress: She choked up over the sadness of the tale.
    2. to become too tense or nervous to perform well: Our team began to choke up in the last inning.

Origin of choke 1150–1200; Middle English choken, cheken, variant of achoken, acheken, Old English ācēocian to suffocate; akin to Old Norse kōk gulletRelated formschoke·a·ble, adjectivein·ter·choke, verb (used with object), in·ter·choked, in·ter·chok·ing.un·choke·a·ble, adjectiveun·choked, adjectiveSynonyms for choke 3. block, dam, plug. Related Words for chokes clog, congest, drown, suffocate, kill, gag, gasp, strangle, stifle, fill, obstruct, close, check, overpower, suppress, noose, occlude, asphyxiate, dam, stop Examples from the Web for chokes Contemporary Examples of chokes

Its insidious reach enters into medical offices and chokes off the free-speech rights of the people trying to work there.

Pediatricians Have the Right to Ask About Guns

Russell Saunders

July 30, 2014

She reluctantly gulps it down, chokes, and allows little rivers of green juice to dribble from the corner of her mouth.

Is This Dildo-Licking, Dominatrix-Loving Vogue Blogger the New Face of Feminism?

Lizzie Crocker

May 22, 2014

Exhausted from the chronic pain that pulsates through her body day and night, she chokes up on the phone.

New Jersey Patients in Pain Over Scarcity of Medical Marijuana

Abby Haglage

February 7, 2013

After further agitation, Innis chokes Metzger and mayhem ensues.

10 Live TV Brawls (VIDEO)

Christy Khoshaba

July 15, 2012

Walt actually takes the bike lock and chokes Krazy-8 (Maximinio Arciniega) with it.

Bryan Cranston Picks 13 Favorite ‘Breaking Bad’ Moments

Bryan Cranston

July 12, 2012

Historical Examples of chokes

It’s like chewing dough—it sticks in your throat and chokes you.

The Manxman

Hall Caine

It only hurries the respiration, and chokes the pulmonary vessels.

The Bramleighs Of Bishop’s Folly

Charles James Lever

When it comes to putting his hand in his pocket—it chokes him off.

Falk

Joseph Conrad

If the vapour gets into his lungs, it chokes as well as nauseates.

Wild Animals at Home

Ernest Thompson Seton

The laughing-fit and the chokes got hold of me again, and I had to stop.

The Works of Rudyard Kipling: One Volume Edition

Rudyard Kipling

British Dictionary definitions for chokes choke verb

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 ofthe weeds are choking my plants
5. (tr) to suppress (emotion)she choked her anger
6. (intr) slang 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

noun

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. Also called: choke coil electronics 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

See also choke back, choke up Derived Formschokeable, adjectiveWord Origin for choke Old English ācēocian, of Germanic origin; related to cheek Word Origin and History for chokes choke v.

c.1300, transitive, “to strangle;” late 14c., “to make to suffocate,” of persons as well as swallowed objects, a shortening of acheken (c.1200), from Old English aceocian “to choke, suffocate” (with intensive a-), probably from root of ceoke “jaw, cheek” (see cheek (n.)).

Intransitive sense from c.1400. Meaning “gasp for breath” is from early 15c. Figurative use from c.1400, in early use often with reference to weeds stifling the growth of useful plants (a Biblical image). Meaning “to fail in the clutch” is attested by 1976, American English. Related: Choked; choking. Choke-cherry (1785) supposedly so called for its astringent qualities. Johnson also has choke-pear “Any aspersion or sarcasm, by which another person is put to silence.” Choked up “overcome with emotion and unable to speak” is attested by 1896. The baseball batting sense is by 1907.

choke n.

1560s, “quinsy,” from choke (v.). Meaning “action of choking” is from 1839. Meaning “valve which controls air to a carburetor” first recorded 1926.

chokes in Medicine chokes [chōks] n.

1. A manifestation of caisson disease or altitude sickness characterized by dyspnea, coughing, and choking.

choke [chōk] v.

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.