Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to silence, usu. in mid-flow.

1815		Westmoreland Gaz. 30 Jan. 1/4: ‘You don’t think you’re going to choke me off, do you?’.
1818		W. Cobbett Political Register XXXIII 72: The Duke’s seven mouths [...] made the Whig party choak off Sheridan.
1848		Bartlett Dict. Americanisms.
1864		Derby Day 155: ‘That will do, mother,’ he said; ‘I think I have had my five shillings’ worth;’ but the gipsy would not be ‘choked off’ until she had finished the ‘patter’ she had learnt by heart.
1869		Sportsman (London) 11 Dec. 4/1: Notes on News [...] [T]heir cowardly attempt bolster up their reputation, such as it is, by ‘choking off’ people who are determined to speak the truth.
1870		Baltimore Sun 9 Mar. n.p.: As usual, the call for the previous question was heard on the other side, and the members who had hoped to be heard on the momentous question were choked off by Republican courtesy.
1884		M.V. Fuller Mrs Rasher’s Curtain Lectures 54: Larkins, tell the band to strike up a perfect crash. I’m bound to choke Rasher off, if I have to drownd the whole company in the noise.
1885		M. Davitt Leaves from a Prison Diary I 64: I have known the governor to have ‘choked off’ (successfully humbugged) dozens of these frequently complaining and contemptible imposters by expressing his surprise at ‘an educated man giving such trouble without cause’.
1891		T.B. Reed Cock House Fellsgarth 65: ‘Well?’ asked the three exiles [...] ‘Choked him off,’ said Wally, fanning himself. ‘Jolly hard work. But he came round’.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 30 Oct. 12/2: She would have given a complete history and pedigree of the whole outfit, but the detectives hurriedly choked her off.
1908		‘O. Henry’ ‘The Ethics of Pig’ Gentle Grafter (1915) 229: Would you mind choking off that kid of yours so that honest people can get their rest?
1917		‘Ian Hay’ Carrying On 155: How does one choke off a tripe-merchant of this type?
1923		E. O’Neill Hairy Ape Act IV: Aw, choke dat off, see!
1954		J. Phelan Tramp at Anchor 135: I have never choked him off, as he sometimes carried a message.

2. (UK Und.) to arrest, to seize.

1865

Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 76/2: In the midst of our dignified remonstrance we were choked off in the rear of Wattie to the Lock-up.

3. to render someone uninterested (in).

1854		Thackeray Newcomes I 46: Mrs. Newcome’s dam patronising airs is enough to choke off any body.
1877		J. Greenwood Dick Temple I 172: I am right choked off the story, mister, thanks all the same.
1881		‘’Arry on Fashion’ Punch 10 Sept. 110/2: ’Tain’t ‘York’ by a lump, such soft chat, nor it won’t choke the females off Parry.
1912		Conan Doyle Lost World 23: ‘It was a discreditable business. There were one or two folk who were inclined to take him seriously, but he soon choked them off.’ ‘How?’ ‘Well, by his insufferable rudeness and impossible behavior’.

4. to get rid of someone, or something.

1844		‘Jonathan Slick’ High Life in N.Y. I 145: Nibbling away at the end of a dough-nut [...] he seemed mortal loth to choke off.
1847		[A. Harris] (con. 1820s) Settlers & Convicts 254: [He] concluded that, as we could not be ‘choked off,’ it would be better to have us for friends than enemies.
1847		R.F. Walond Paddiana II 193: It is a pity that this admirable property of ‘choking off’ the judge [...] cannot be applied to some modern article of dress.
1856		J. Strang Glasgow and Its Clubs 415: Filling the low-roofed apartment with a flavour so heavy as to be almost sufficient to ‘choke off’ any one at all troubled with dyspepsia.
1866		Sportsman 13 Oct. 2/1: Notes on News [...] The ‘baronet’s daughter,’ [was]not so to be ‘choked off.’ She still worried the wretched young man at least to ‘go through the form of marriage’.
1877		J. Greenwood Dick Temple I 23: If that did not choke him off, why, so much the better for us.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 7 Mar. 13/1: Well, the fact is […] there’s nothin’ to be made ‘on the never’ now; there’s too many on the bloomin’ game. If you cop a mug out of the Metropolitan, and are just a getting him away right, ’bout six or seven in the same line wants to stand in; and that puts the mug fly and chokes him off the push.
1894		H. Lawson ‘Steelman’ in Roderick (1972) 208: There was no choking him off.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.
1911		G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 177: Of course, everything will be done to choke off Graham and keep the measure from being introduced.
1921		N&Q 12 Ser. IX 466: Choke a man Off (To). To keep him in his place; give him the cold shoulder.
1949		Wodehouse Mating Season 132: She would lose no time in choking Gussie off and putting him on the ice.
1951		P. Hamilton West Pier (1986) 147: You can be cool and cut the meeting short—can’t you? You’ll know how to choke him off.
1967		(con. 1941) R. McKenna ‘King’s Horsemen’ Sons of Martha 62: Now we’ll choke off them little yellow bastards to where they have to fight!

5. to halt a person’s activities.

1848		N.Y. Dly Express 21 Feb. n.p.: I spent a couple of hours in the House amused by watching the dignified proceedings of our Representatives. The operation of ‘choking off’ a speaker was very funny, and reminded me of the lawless conduct of fighting school-boys [B].
1879		‘’Arry on Niggers’ Punch 15 Mar. 113/2: They’ll talk any treacle to choke our brave chaps off a jolly good fight.
1883		J. Payn Thicker than Water I 285: I think Hébert is choked off. His attempt to farm them on the ground of being an uncle utterly failed, and the Court’s decision as to the arrears has ruined him.
1891		‘’Arry on Wheels’ in Punch 7 May 217/2: But you know I hain’t heasy choked off [...] when I’m fair on the job.
1900		Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Nov. 24/1: That is the remedy, but it isn’t taken; fining goes on just the same. Mo ’ll come up smiling as often as they like with fines, but one fair dose of quod would choke him right off.
1906		Marvel 12 May 445: He sha’n’t jolly well choke me off playing.
1917		W. Muir Observations of Orderly 65: Some of the M.P. members brought influence to bear, and the War office was choked off.
1922		A. Christie Secret Adversary (1955) 39: The Admiralty rather choked me off, but Scotland Yard were very civil.

6. to dismiss, to ignore.

1885

M. Davitt Leaves from a Prison Diary I 200: I say, Bill, were you ever choked off with such blooming thin skilly in all your lagging?

7. to stop one’s action, speech etc.

1879		‘’Arry on the Rail’ Punch 13 Sept. 109/1: We did give it tongue, I can tell yer, I didn’t choke off, not a minnit.
1889		‘’Arry in Switzerland’ Punch 5 Dec. in P. Marks (2006) 98: But he gave me a look from his lamps and somehow I choked off like a shot.
1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 198: They didn’t see any particular reason why their merry-go-round rides should be choked off.
1918		Dakota Co. Herald (NE) 12 Dec. 3/2: ‘Aw, choke it off; youse ain’t on de job a little bit’, retorted Blink.

8. to reprimand; thus choking-off n.

1921		N&Q 12 Ser. IX 345: Choked Off. Reprimanded.
1924		Kipling ‘The United Idolaters’ Complete Stalky & Co. (1987) 151: I saw the prefects choking them off as we came into prayers.
1930		(con. 1910s) D. Mackenzie Hell’s Kitchen 186: He (Ingram) got us the biggest ‘choking off’ we ever had from the Home Office.