Meaning
1. To stop the passage of the breath, by filling the windpipe or compressing the neck. The word is used to express a temporary or partial stoppage, as to choke with dirt or smoke; or an entire stoppage that causes death; to suffocate; to strangle. Mark 5.
2. To stop by filling; to obstruct; to block up; as, to choke the entrance of a harbor, or any passage.
3. To hinder by obstruction or impediments; to hinder or check growth, expansion, or progress; as, to choke plants; to choke the spreading of the fruit.
Thorns choke them. Mat 13. Luke 8.
4. To smother or suffocate, as fire.
5. To suppress or stifle; as, to choke the strong conception.
6. To offend; to cause to take an exception; as, I was choked at this word.
We observe that this word generally implies crowding, stuffing or covering. A channel is choked by stones and sand, but not by a boom.
CHOKE, v.i.
1. To have the wind-pipe stopped; as, cattle are apt to choke when eating potatoes.
2. To be offended; to take exceptions.
CHOKE, n. The filamentous or capillary part of the artichoke.
