Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) a garrotter.

c.1850		Duncombe New and Improved Flash Dict.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 20: Choker, or wind-stopper a garrotter.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.

(b) a cravat; occas. a formal white tie (see cite 1883); thus white-choker, the white cravat worn by tavern waiters or mutes at a funeral and thus the waiter himself.

1846–48		Thackeray Book of Snobs (1889) 7: The usual attire of a gentleman, viz., pumps, a gold waistcoat, a crush hat, a sham frill, and a white choker.
1853		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Adventures of Mr Verdant Green (1982) I 81: I’ll take off his choker and make him easy about the neck.
1856		Bell’s Life in Sydney 28 June 3/2: Two sportive young gentlemen [...] both equally irreproachable in respect of tho chokers which encircled their ‘jugulars’.
1858		Times 3 April in Franklyn (1960) 175: He wears no neckcloth, but surrounds his throat with a ‘choker’.
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 20: CHOKER, a cravat [...] White-choker, the white handkerchief worn by mutes at a funeral, and waiters at a tavern; also by a parson.
1867		‘There’s Nothing Like Raising the Wind’ in Champagne Charley Songster 27: I sold the teapot and the kettle, the nightcap that goes on my head [...] To leave this ere choker I’m willing – I’ll come and release it next week.
1872		G.P. Burnham Memoirs of the US Secret Service 82: He observes [...] the cove in the white choker.
1879		Clarence & Richmond Examiner (Grafton, NSW) 18 Jan. 4/6: It is grand ‘form’, however, to call [...] a a cravat a ‘choker’.
1883		T.B. Reed Willoughby Captains (1887) 113: ‘All right ! Six-thirty, mind, and chokers!’ [...] Our two heroes, arrayed in their Sunday jackets and white ties, presented themselves at the house of their host.
1894		N. Otago Times (NZ) 30 May 1/7: ‘Tie’ for cravat was as much the slang of low life as ‘choker’ is now.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 17: Choker, a wind-stopper; a cravat.

(c) (also choker-bloke, white-choker, white-chokered gentleman) a clergyman, metonymical use of his collar.

1849		Punch’s Almanack in Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues II (1890–1904) 100/1: The Swell Mobsman’s Almanack. [...] The vite chokers may be fingured on their way ’ome as they mostly brings hoff a pocketful .
1853		‘Modes of Addressing Persons of Various Ranks’ in Comic Almanack 361: The Clergy as a body, you will speak of as the ‘White Chokers’ .
1858		‘A. Pendragon’ Queen of the South 75: ‘Thank heaven for this!’ exclaimed Frank. ‘Not so fast, young choker,’ said Bob-the-Butcher.
1872		G.P. Burnham Memoirs of the US Secret Service iv: Choker [...] A ‘parson.’.
1873		Sl. Dict. 117: Clergymen and Exeter Hallites are frequently termed white-chokers.
[1873		‘Cuthbert Bede’ Little Mr. Bouncer 124: By his togs he looks like a parson; white choker, black coat and sit-upons].
1881		Trumble Sl. Dict. (1890).
1886		W. Newton Secrets of Tramp Life Revealed 8: Gulling a Choker ... Deceiving a Minister.
1891		Bird o’ Freedom (Sydney) 28 Feb. 2/3: Some of our white-chokered gentlemen should bear in mind that if a man serves him faithfully six days in the week the devil doesn’t care much whether he goes to church on Sunday or not.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 17: [W]hite choker, a parson.
1901		Truth (Sydney) 10 Nov. 7/2: Not but wot a choker bloak should / Take ’is liquor like a man; / But when parsuns they gets lumbered, / It were bad as they began.

(d) the hangman’s noose; thus the hangman.

1846		Swell’s Night Guide 59: It’s a pity, cose you’ve got sich a nice squeeze for a choaker. [...] 116/2: Choaker drop at Newgate.
1935		A.J. Pollock Und. Speaks 21/2: Choker, a hangman (prison).
1936		L. Pound ‘Amer. Euphemisms for Dying’ in AS XI:3 200: Put on the hempen collar / cravat / necktie / necklace / anodyne necklace / choker / halter.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

(e) a high collar.

1869		N.Y. Herald 6 Sept. ‘Prince Arthur in Canada.’ n.p.: A neat and elegant black dress coat, closely buttoned, pants of a light drab hue, a choker collar of enormous size, and a black silk tile, were the garments most conspicuous [F&H].
1892		Western Dly Press 30 Aug. 7/2: He could not walk through the streets without being interfered with by strange policemen [...] He regarded it as a great liberty to pull him up by his ‘choker’.
1902		F.P. Dunne Mr Dooley’s Opinions 181: Ye take a man with small side whiskers, a long coat an’ a white choker.
1902		‘Dads Wayback’ in Sun. Times (Sydney) 1 June 5/5: [T]her bar’s full o’ coves in white chokers as never does er tap o’ work ’cept drew their [sic] screw from the Government.
1924		C.J. Dennis ‘The Crusaders’ in Chisholm (1951) 82: Then, as ’is rev’rince stirred, / She seen ’is choker. ‘’Oo the ’ell’s this bird?’.
1947		(con. 1870s) F. Weitenkampf Manhattan Kaleidoscope 83: ‘Chokers’ were the high straight collars worn especially by dudes.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 794: choker – A collar.

(f) a large neckerchief, which was worn high round the throat.

1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.
1938		F.D. Sharpe Sharpe of the Flying Squad 248: He’s a big, fat man with a wheezy, beery voice, a choker round his neck.
1942		(con. 1890s) S. O’Casey Pictures in the Hallway 50: There were a few vile boys, all the samey, allee savee, in Dublin’s fair city [...] with wondherful chokers on them.

(g) (S.Afr./US) a tie.

1909		Carr & Chase in ‘Word-List From Aroostook’ in DN III:v 410: choker, n. A necktie.
1944		‘Jiver’s Bible’ in D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive.
1963		L.F. Freed Crime in S. Afr. 105: His ‘dicky dirt’ is his shirt and his ‘choker’ is the shoe-lace around his neck doing duty for a tie.
2013		E. Beetner ‘Going in Style’ in ThugLit Feb. [ebook] ‘I took all my neckties and burned them in the back yard. Couldn’t pay me to wear one of those chokers again’.