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.
权威例句
1. It's enough to make them choke with apoplectic rage.
足以气得让他们说不出话来。
2. The brandy made him choke, but it restored his nerve.
虽说白兰地呛了他一下,却让他恢复了勇气。
3. They warned the Chancellor that raising taxes in the Budget could choke off the recovery.
他们警告财政大臣说,预算中税收的提高将阻碍经济复苏。
4. The coffee was almost too hot to swallow and made him choke for a moment.
咖啡烫得几乎咽不下去,呛得他好一会儿喘不过气来。
5. When she learned the sad news, she found it hard to choke back her tears.