choke (redirected from choking)

choke someone off

to prevent someone from continuing to talk. (A figurative use; does not imply physical choking.) The opposition choked the speakers' debate off before they finished. Why did they want to choke off the speakers?

choke someone up

Fig. to cause someone to feel like starting to cry. Sad stories like that always choke me up. The movie was sad and it choked up most of the audience.

See also: up

choke something back

to fight hard to keep something from coming out of one's mouth, such as sobs, tears, angry words, vomit, etc. I tried to choke the unpleasant words back, but I could not. She choked back her grief, but it came forth nonetheless. I could hardly choke my tears back.

See also: back

choke something down

to eat something, even though it is hard to swallow or tastes bad. The cough medicine tasted terrible, but I managed to choke it down. She choked down four of those pills all at once.

choke something off 

1. Lit. to restrict or strangle a living creature's windpipe. The tight collar on the cat tended to choke its airstream off. The collar choked off its airstream.

2. Fig. to put an end to debate or discussion; to stop the flow of words from any source. Are they going to choke the debate off? The chair tried to choke off debate but failed.

choke something up 

1. to clog something up; to fill up and block something. Branches and leaves choked the sewer up. Rust choked up the pipes.

2. to cough or choke until something that has blocked one's windpipe is brought up. The old man choked up the candy that was stuck in his windpipe. He choked up the chunk of meat and could breathe again.

See also: up

choke on something

to gag and cough on something stuck in the throat. The dog choked on the meat. The restaurant patron began to choke on a fish bone.

choke up 

1. to feel like crying. I choked up when I heard the news. He was beginning to choke up as he talked.

2. to become emotional or saddened so that one cannot speak. I choked up when I heard about the disaster. I was choking up, and I knew I would not be able to go on.

See also: up

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choke (you) up

to have difficulty speaking because you feel great emotion During his farewell talk the coach got all choked up and started to cry.

See also: up

choke off something also choke something off

to suddenly stop the movement or progress of something He told his staff to stop talking to the press, hoping to choke off the bad publicity.