choke, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

choke v.

[fig. uses of SE]

1. (US, also choke in, ...up) to stop talking; esp. as imper. choke it! choke up! shut up!

1837		‘Handy Andy’ in Bentley’s Misc. Apr. 376: Choke you, you vagabond!
1844		‘Jonathan Slick’ High Life in N.Y. I 19: Cousin John looked at her so eternal cross that she was glad to choke in.
1903		‘Hugh McHugh’ Out for the Coin 74: ‘Aw, choke up! choke up,’ the stranger advised.
1907		C.E. Mulford Bar-20 ix: ‘Choke up,’ interposed Red.
1927		B. Cormack Racket Act II: Choke it. We don’t want any trouble with you.
1929		Dundee Courier 19 Feb. 6/3: When the sailor told his mates to be quiet, he said, ‘Choke your luff’.

2. (N.Z./US) to stop doing something; to turn off, e.g. a radio.

1930		M. West Babe Gordon (1934) 132: He choked down the speed of the car.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 44/1: Choke. To extinguish or dim a light. ‘Choke that glim (flashlight).’.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 27/1: choke it cancel or stop something; eg ‘Shall I choke the telly? There’s nothing worth watching tonight.’.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].

3. (Aus. Und.) to assault and rob.

1932

New Call (Perth, WA) 7 Apr. 3/5: In former times an ‘open go’ was afforded, and a winner simply had to take the risk, Sometimes he got through unscathed, more often he was ‘choked’ before he got fifty yards.

4. (US) orig. sporting, to lose one’s nerve when faced by pressure.

[1933		W. Winchell On Broadway 3 May [synd. col.] Add Baseball Slang. [...] ‘He chokes in the clutch’ — a player who isn’t so good in a pinch].
1942		C.R. Bond 5 Jan. in A Flying Tiger’s Diary (1984) 134: I caught a glimpse of three aircraft to my upper right. I choked! Were they Japs? Nope!
1961		L. Schecter Roger Maris 71: ‘Dick Tomanek would be pitching and [Lane would] sit there in that box down front and put his hands to his neck everytime [sic] a man got on base. He’d yell choke-up and everybody in the park could hear him’.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 96: Choke [...] Choke up Tense at the last minute.
1977		Fidrych & Clark No Big Deal 150: [L]ike Tom Veryzer and I, we’re comin’ to the ballpark, right? And Tommy’s goin’—grabbin’ his throat and goin’, like, Choke.
1986		Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 2: choke – become disabled under pressure, give up out of frustration: Don’t cram so hard the night before, and you won’t choke the day of the exam.
1987		(con. 1967) E. Spencer Welcome to Vietnam (1989) 64: You always wonder whether you’ll choke until you’ve had that time [i.e. under fire].
1997–2000		Da Bomb 🌐 7: Choke: Fold under pressure.
2001		(con. 1975–6) E. Little Steel Toes 17: Since he’s choked it’s all right to fuck with him.
2024		C. Stella Joey Piss Pot 159: ‘They set the record during the regular season for points and they choke in game seven at home? [...] Motherfucking choking dog cocksuckers’.

5. (US campus) to reprimand or refuse; to ‘shoot down’.

1964

in Current Sl. (1967) I:4.

6. to surprise, to shock, to disgust.

1960, 1975		Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
1981		S. Berkoff Decadence in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 21: It doesn’t satisfy me / it chokes me to here.

7. (US campus) to do badly in work that one should have found easy.

1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 96: Choke Do poorly on something.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U. 58: I can’t believe it — I studied all night for my test and I totally choked.
1995		A. Heckerling Clueless [film script] cher: Did you get your report card? dionne: Yeah, I’m toast. How’d you do? cher: I totally choked. My father is going to go ballistic on me.

8. (US campus) to smoke marijuana.

1966		J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 55: Instead of going drinking to get drunk, I went and bought a stick of pot. And I choked my brains out. I was started.
1995		Bone Thugs-N-Harmony ‘1st Of Tha Month’ 🎵 E. 1999 Eternal [album] Cuz it’s the 1st of tha month and now we smokin’, chokin’, rollin’ blunts / And sippin’ on 40 ounces thuggin’ come come we got the blessed rum.
1997–2001		Online Sl. Dict. 🌐 choke v 1. to smoke marijuana.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

choke-dog (n.) [joc. ref. to the effects]

1. rum, grog.

1821

J.F. Cooper ‘The Spy’ in Novel Newspaper (1842) I 155/1: Replenishing the mug with a large addition of the article known to the soldiery by the name of ‘choke dog,’ she held it towards the pedler.

2. cheese; unappetizing food.

1870		Good Words Mar. n.p.: [...] Bread and choke-dog, as he calls his county’s cheese, etc. – these [...] are the chief items in his bill of fare [F&H].
1883		W.C. Russell Sailors’ Lang. xii: Out of his sea fare [...] Jack nevertheless manages to manufacture several dishes, of which the names are worthy of the contents and flavour [...] ‘dogsbody,’ ‘seapie,’ ‘choke-dog.’.

choke-me (n.) [its heavy, cloying consistency]

(W.I.) foofoo, a mixture of yams, plantains and cassava boiled and then pounded into a thick mass.

1958

cited in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).

choke pear (n.) (also choak pear) [SE choke pear, an instrument of torture, similar in shape to the rubber gags favoured by today’s S&M adepts, made of an iron ‘pear’, which is forced into the victim’s mouth, a key is turned and spikes protrude from the metal into the mouth, rendering it impossible to remove unless the mouth is cut or another key obtained. This object was itself derived f. 16C choke pear, an inedible, hard pear, suitable for making the drink perry, but rejected as a dessert]

an unanswerable objection, a reproof.

1580		Lyly Euphues and his England (1916) 304: He gave him a choke-pear to stop his breath, replying as followeth ...
1608		Dekker Honest Whore Pt 2 (1630) V ii: Tho I cannot giue the old dog, my Father, a bone to gnaw, the Daughter shall bee sure of a Choke-peare .
1639		J. Taylor Crabtree Lectures 88: I doe marvaile you had no Souse, [...] Woodcocke, nor bitter Almonds, nor choake Peares.
1785		Hist. of Peter and Betteries 11: I can give the choak pears which will do thee a great deal of good.
c.1786		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue ms. additions n.p.: Choak Pear. an Unanswerable Objection, also a machine used abroad by Robbers. It was an iron Pear, which they forced into the Mouths of Persons from whom they intended to extort Money, & on turning a key certain interior springs thrust forth a number of points in all directions, which so enlarged it that it could not be taken out of the Mouth, & the Iron being case hardened could not be filed, the only way of getting rid of it was either by cutting the Mouth or Advertising a reward for the Key. These Pears were also called Pears of Agony .
1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (2nd, 3rd edn).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.

choke-rag (n.) (also choke-strap) [SE and its supposed effect on the (reluctant) wearer]

(US) a necktie.

1944		R.F. Adams Western Words (1968) 64/2: choke strap A cowboy’s name for a necktie.
1953		Randolph & Wilson Down in the Holler 234: choke rag: n. An old-fashioned necktie.
1969		in DARE.

choke stick (n.)

a saxaphone.

1940

Ted Yates 15 Mar. [synd. col.] The ‘choke stick’ stands for a saxaphone.

In phrases

choke a brown dog (v.)

(Aus.) a general negative or dismissive phr. used variously as to context.

1986

R. Beckett Dinkum Aussie Dict. 14: Choke a brown dog: Almost anything nasty will choke a brown dog. [...] The phrase normally goes, ‘Jeez (a euphemism for Jesus), that pie was as rough as guts it would choke a brown dog, it would.’.

choke-a-cat (n.)

mispron. of chocolate.

1690

‘Teague’ Teagueland Jests I 87: She drank two Dishes of Choak-a-Cat dish Morning.

choke a darkie (v.)

see under darkie n.

choke and chew (n.) (also choke and puke) [the poor quality of the food]

(US) a roadside café, a truckstop.

1971		M. Tak Truck Talk 30: Choke and puke: a run-down truck stop.
1975		L. Dills CB Slanguage 23: Choke and Puke: truck stop restaurant.
1976		Bibb et al. CB Bible 80: Anyone looking for a choke and chew or a place to go bowling just has to get on [channel] 11.
1989		Eble Campus Sl. Sept. 2: choke and puke – any fast food restaurant.
2000		T. Anderson ‘Tim’s tales from the Road’ 🌐 The food in most Calgary truck stops is notorious among regular drivers, and the Road King Buffet is no exception, earning its nickname, ‘The Road Kill Truck Stop.’ [...] I hoped Lance knew of a better choke and puke where we could find chow.
2001		Arrow Industrial Supply Inc. (OH) 🌐 I propose that the 30,000 person who comes on to our site gets to have dinner Friday Night Free at [...] the Local Choke and Puke in Louisville. I understand the Friday Night special is Bean Soup, Beans and Cornbread, and Beans & Ham casarole.

choke Kojak (v.) (also strangle Kojak) [proper name Kojak, a bald-headed TV detective]

to masturbate.

1997		Roger’s Profanisaurus in Viz 87 Dec. n.p.: strangle Kojak euph. Male masturbation; peeling the carrot; stroking the wookie. See Kojaks roll-neck.
2002		B. Healey ‘U4ME’ (poem) on Originality 🌐 Blinding the Cyclops, yanking the rope / Choking Kojak, disobeying the Pope.
2004		P. Howard PS, I Scored the Bridesmaids 145: I was sitting at home [...] watching the Tracey Shaw aerobics video and strangling Kojak.

choke the chicken (v.)

1. to masturbate.

1975		L. Dills CB Slanguage 23: Chicken Choker: one who masturbates [...] Choke the Chicken: masturbate.
1987		Eble Campus Sl. Oct. 7: wax the dolphin [...] Also choke the chicken.
1990		S. Morgan Homeboy 124: He likes killin . . . the way you like chokin yer chicken.
2003		T. Seay ‘International Answers: Spammers’ Message on LBO Talk list 14 Jan. 🌐 In High School, I was probably as homophobic as your average straight teenager, but I never associated ‘riding the handcar’ with homosexuality. I never felt guilty about choking my chicken.
2015		S. King Finders Keepers (2016) 116: He might [...] grab one of his father’s Playboys [...] and choke the chicken for a while.

2. (also feed the chooks (on Master Bates farm)) to masturbate a partner.

2001		P. Meditzy ‘A Day In The Life Of...’ 29 Apr. 🌐 At the same time she put her hand in my pants and started to ‘choke the chicken’ and then on to ‘smoking the Whitehouse cigar’, taking it deep into her throat until my cock was like a ‘diamond cutter’.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 77: feeding the chooks Male masturbation, sometimes rammed home with the addition on Master Bates’ farm. ANZ.

3. (US) to have sexual intercourse.

1985

‘Jennifer Blowdryer’ Modern English 72: copulation (n): [...] Choke the chicken.

choke the lizard (v.)

see under lizard n.