King James Bible Dictionary

CHOKE, verb transitive

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 5:13.

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. Matthew 13:22. Luke 8:7.

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, verb intransitive

1. To have the wind-pipe stopped; as, cattle are apt to choke when eating potatoes.

2. To be offended; to take exceptions.

CHOKE, noun The filamentous or capillary part of the artichoke.

CHOKE-CHERRY, noun The popular name of a species of wild cherry, remarkable for its astringent qualities.

CHOKED, participle passive Suffocated; strangled; obstructed by filling; stifled; suppressed; smothered.

CHOKE-FULL, adjective [choke and full.] Full as possible; quite full.

CHOKE-PEAR, noun

1. A kind of pear that has a rough astringent taste, and is swallowed with difficulty, or which contracts the parts of the mouth.

2. An aspersion or sarcasm by which a person is put to silence.

CHOKER, noun One that chokes another; one that puts another to silence; that which cannot be answered.

CHOKE-WEED, noun A plant so called.