to choke off

Choke \Choke\ (ch[=o]k), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Choked}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Choking}.] [OE. cheken, choken; cf. AS. [=a]ceocian
   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.
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            With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder.
                                                  --Shak.
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   2. To obstruct by filling up or clogging any passage; to
      block up. --Addison.
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   3. To hinder or check, as growth, expansion, progress, etc.;
      to stifle.
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            Oats and darnel choke the rising corn. --Dryden.
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   4. To affect with a sense of strangulation by passion or
      strong feeling. "I was choked at this word." --Swift.
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   5. To make a choke, as in a cartridge, or in the bore of the
      barrel of a shotgun.
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   {To choke off}, to stop a person in the execution of a
      purpose; as, to choke off a speaker by uproar.
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