Choke, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Choked; p. pr. & vb. n. Choking.]
Etymology: [OE. cheken, choken; cf. AS. aceocian to suffocate, Icel. koka to gulp, E. chincough, cough.]
1. To render unable to breathe by filling, pressing upon, or squeezing the windpipe; to stifle; to suffocate; to strangle. With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder. Shak.
2. To obstruct by filling up or clogging any passage; to block up. Addison.
3. To hinder or check, as growth, expansion, progress, etc.; to stifle. Oats and darnel choke the rising corn. Dryden.
4. To affect with a sense of strangulation by passion or strong feeling. "I was choked at this word." Swift.
1 more senses
5. To make a choke, as in a cartridge, or in the bore of the barrel of a shotgun. To choke off, to stop a person in the execution of a purpose; as, to choke off a speaker by uproar.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Choke, v. i.
1. To have the windpipe stopped; to have a spasm of the throat, caused by stoppage or irritation of the windpipe; to be strangled.
2. To be checked, as if by choking; to stick. The words choked in his throat. Sir W. Scott.
Choke, n.
1. A stoppage or irritation of the windpipe, producing the feeling of strangulation.
2. (Gun.) (a) The tied end of a cartridge. (b) A constriction in the bore of a shotgun, case of a rocket, etc.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for choke; he lists it under obstruct.
He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.