Library / English Dictionary

CHOKE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A valve that controls the flow of air into the carburetor of a gasoline engine

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("choke" is a kind of...):

valve (control consisting of a mechanical device for controlling the flow of a fluid)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "choke"):

automatic choke (a choke that automatically controls the flow of air to the carburetor)

Holonyms ("choke" is a part of...):

fuel system (equipment in a motor vehicle or aircraft that delivers fuel to the engine)

Derivation:

choke (reduce the air supply)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A coil of low resistance and high inductance used in electrical circuits to pass direct current and attenuate alternating current

Synonyms:

choke; choke coil; choking coil

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("choke" is a kind of...):

coil (reactor consisting of a spiral of insulated wire that introduces inductance into a circuit)

Holonyms ("choke" is a part of...):

circuit; electric circuit; electrical circuit (an electrical device that provides a path for electrical current to flow)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Breathe with great difficulty, as when experiencing a strong emotion

Example:

She choked with emotion when she spoke about her deceased husband

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

breathe; respire; suspire; take a breath (draw air into, and expel out of, the lungs)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

choking (a condition caused by blocking the airways to the lungs (as with food or swelling of the larynx))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to retch or choke

Synonyms:

choke; gag

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

sicken (make sick or ill)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sense 3

Meaning:

Struggle for breath; have insufficient oxygen intake

Example:

he swallowed a fishbone and gagged

Synonyms:

choke; gag; strangle; suffocate

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

hurt; suffer (feel pain or be in pain)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s on something
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

choking (a condition caused by blocking the airways to the lungs (as with food or swelling of the larynx))

Sense 4

Meaning:

Constrict (someone's) throat and keep from breathing

Synonyms:

choke; strangle

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

compact; compress; constrict; contract; press; squeeze (squeeze or press together)

Cause:

choke (breathe with great difficulty, as when experiencing a strong emotion)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

choking (the act of suffocating (someone) by constricting the windpipe)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Reduce the air supply

Example:

choke a carburetor

Synonyms:

choke; throttle

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

enrich (make better or improve in quality)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

choke (a valve that controls the flow of air into the carburetor of a gasoline engine)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Pass from physical life and lose all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life

Example:

The old guy kicked the bucket at the age of 102

Synonyms:

buy the farm; cash in one's chips; choke; conk; croak; decease; die; drop dead; exit; expire; give-up the ghost; go; kick the bucket; pass; pass away; perish; pop off; snuff it

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

change state; turn (undergo a transformation or a change of position or action)

Verb group:

break; break down; conk out; die; fail; give out; give way; go; go bad (stop operating or functioning)

die (suffer or face the pain of death)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "choke"):

abort (cease development, die, and be aborted)

asphyxiate; stifle; suffocate (be asphyxiated; die from lack of oxygen)

buy it; pip out (be killed or die)

drown (die from being submerged in water, getting water into the lungs, and asphyxiating)

predecease (die before; die earlier than)

famish; starve (die of food deprivation)

fall (die, as in battle or in a hunt)

succumb; yield (be fatally overwhelmed)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 7

Meaning:

Suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of

Example:

His job suffocated him

Synonyms:

choke; suffocate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

dampen; stifle (suppress or constrain so as to lessen in intensity)

Verb group:

choke; suffocate (become stultified, suppressed, or stifled)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Sense 8

Meaning:

Become stultified, suppressed, or stifled

Example:

He is suffocating--living at home with his aged parents in the small village

Synonyms:

choke; suffocate

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

become; turn (undergo a change or development)

Verb group:

choke; suffocate (suppress the development, creativity, or imagination of)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 9

Meaning:

Impair the respiration of or obstruct the air passage of

Example:

The foul air was slowly suffocating the children

Synonyms:

asphyxiate; choke; stifle; suffocate

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

block; close up; impede; jam; obstruct; obturate; occlude (block passage through)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

choking (a condition caused by blocking the airways to the lungs (as with food or swelling of the larynx))

Sense 10

Meaning:

Become or cause to become obstructed

Example:

The water pipe is backed up

Synonyms:

back up; choke; choke off; clog; clog up; congest; foul

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

block; close up; impede; jam; obstruct; obturate; occlude (block passage through)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "choke"):

gum up (stick together as if with gum)

crap up (become obstructed or chocked up)

block; choke up; lug; stuff (obstruct)

silt; silt up (become chocked with silt)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 11

Meaning:

Be too tight; rub or press

Example:

This neckband is choking the cat

Synonyms:

choke; fret; gag

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

compact; compress; constrict; contract; press; squeeze (squeeze or press together)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Derivation:

choker (a high tight collar)

choker (necklace that fits tightly around a woman's neck)

Sense 12

Meaning:

Wring the neck of

Example:

The man choked his opponent

Synonyms:

choke; scrag

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

compact; compress; constrict; contract; press; squeeze (squeeze or press together)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

choker (someone who kills by strangling)

choking (the act of suffocating (someone) by constricting the windpipe)

Sense 13

Meaning:

Check or slow down the action or effect of

Example:

She choked her anger

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

bottle up; inhibit; suppress (consciously restrain from showing; of emotions, desires, impulses, or behavior)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 14

Meaning:

Fail to perform adequately due to tension or agitation

Example:

The team should have won hands down but choked, disappointing the coach and the audience

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "choke" is one way to...):

fail; neglect (fail to do something; leave something undone)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

choker (an unfortunate person who is unable to perform effectively because of nervous tension or agitation)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A question about an individual's choking or coughing - such as food or liquids going down the wrong pipe at its worst.

(Choking or Coughing - Food or Liquids Going Down the Wrong Pipe at its Worst, NCI Thesaurus)

Now there's no use in your choking me; I'm going to have my say.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Someone chokes on an ice cube or gets stung by a bee.

(First Aid, NIH)

Signs and symptoms in a newborn with this abnormality include excessive salivation, choking, coughing, and the development of cyanosis and respiratory distress when fed.

(Esophageal Atresia, NCI Thesaurus)

Then she was in a great fright, and cried out to Chanticleer, “Pray run as fast as you can, and fetch me some water, or I shall be choked.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

They did not fall alone; with a choked cry, the coxswain loosed his grasp upon the shrouds and plunged head first into the water.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

The narrow pass was blocked by huge stones littered in wild confusion over each other, with the blue choking smoke reeking up through the crevices.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Also of thinking that Jip once barked in the distance, and was instantly choked by somebody.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"I'm not sorry," protested Jo, with a choke.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"Come, eat something," she said; but I put both away from me, feeling as if a drop or a crumb would have choked me in my present condition.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)