choke: [14] Etymologically, to choke is to cut off air by constricting the ‘cheeks’, for it is a derivative of cēoce, the Old English word for ‘cheek’. There is actually such a verb recorded, just once, from Old English: the compound ācēocian, with the intensive prefix ā-; so probably the simple verb existed too, though evidence for it has not survived.
The noun sense ‘valve controlling the flow of air to an engine’ dates from the 1920s, but it was a natural development from an earlier (18th-century), more general sense ‘constriction in a tube’; its parallelism with throttle, both being applied to constriction of the air passage and hence to control valves in an engine tube, is striking. (The choke of artichoke has no etymological connection with choke ‘deprive of air’.)
choke (v.)
c. 1300, transitive, "to strangle;" late 14c., "to make to suffocate," of persons as well as swallowed objects, a shortening of acheken (c. 1200), from Old English aceocian "to choke, suffocate" (with intensive a-), probably from root of ceoke "jaw, cheek" (see cheek (n.)).
Intransitive sense from c. 1400. Meaning "gasp for breath" is from early 15c. Figurative use from c. 1400, in early use often with reference to weeds stifling the growth of useful plants (a Biblical image). Meaning "to fail in the clutch" is attested by 1976, American English. Related: Choked; choking. Choke-cherry (1785) supposedly so called for its astringent qualities. Johnson also has choke-pear "Any aspersion or sarcasm, by which another person is put to silence." Choked up "overcome with emotion and unable to speak" is attested by 1896. The baseball batting sense is by 1907.
choke (n.)
1560s, "quinsy," from choke (v.). Meaning "action of choking" is from 1839. Meaning "valve which controls air to a carburetor" first recorded 1926.
雙語例句
1. It's enough to make them choke with apoplectic rage.
足以氣得讓他們說不出話來。
來自柯林斯例句
2. The brandy made him choke, but it restored his nerve.
雖說白蘭地嗆了他一下，卻讓他恢復(fù)了勇氣。
來自柯林斯例句
3. They warned the Chancellor that raising taxes in the Budget could choke off the recovery.
他們警告財政大臣說，預(yù)算中稅收的提高將阻礙經(jīng)濟復(fù)蘇。
來自柯林斯例句
4. The coffee was almost too hot to swallow and made him choke for a moment.
咖啡燙得幾乎咽不下去，嗆得他好一會兒喘不過氣來。
來自柯林斯例句
5. When she learned the sad news, she found it hard to choke back her tears.