Chapter Chive to Choke of C by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

1. A band or organized company of singers, especially in church service. [Formerly written also quire.]

2. That part of a church appropriated to the singers.

3. (Arch.) The chancel.

Choir organ (Mus.), one of the three or five distinct organs included in the full organ, each separable from the rest, but all controlled by one performer; a portion of the full organ, complete in itself, and more practicable for ordinary service and in the accompanying of the vocal choir. — Choir screen, Choir wall (Arch.), a screen or low wall separating the choir from the aisles. — Choir service, the service of singing performed by the choir. T. Warton.

Choke
(Choke) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Choked ; p. pr. & vb. n. Choking.] [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.

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.

Choke
(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
(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.