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.