Choke
Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words [1]
is used, in the Passive Voice, of "perishing by drowning," Mark 5:13; in the Active, "to seize a person's throat, to throttle," Matthew 18:28 . See Throat.
a strengthened form of No. 1 (apo, "from," intensive; cp. Eng., "to choke off"), is used metaphorically, of "thorns crowding out seed sown and preventing its growth," Matthew 13:7; Luke 8:7 . It is Luke's word for "suffocation by drowning," Luke 8:33 (cp. Mark 5:13 , above).
gives the suggestion of "choking together" (sun, "with"), i.e., by crowding, Matthew 13:22; Mark 4:7,19; Luke 8:14 . It is used in Luke 8:42 , of the crowd that thronged the Lord, almost, so to speak, to suffocation.
King James Dictionary [2]
1. To stop the passage of the breath, by filling the windpipe or compressing the neck. The word is used to express a temporary or partial stoppage, as to choke with dirt or smoke or an entire stoppage that causes death to suffocate to strangle. Mark 5 . 2. To stop by filling to obstruct to block up as, to choke the entrance of a harbor, or any passage. 3. To hinder by obstruction or impediments to hinder or check growth, expansion, or progress as, to choke plants to choke the spreading of the fruit.
Thorns choke them. Matthew 13 . Luke 8 .
4. To smother or suffocate, as fire. 5. To suppress or stifle as, to choke the strong conception. 6. To offend to cause to take an exception as, I was choked at this word.
We observe that this word generally implies crowding, stuffing or covering. A channel is choked by stones and sand, but not by a boom.
CHOKE,
1. To have the wind-pipe stopped as, cattle are apt to choke when eating potatoes. 2. To be offended to take exceptions.
CHOKE, n. The filamentous or capillary part of the artichoke.
Webster's Dictionary [3]
(1): (v. t.) To obstruct by filling up or clogging any passage; to block up.
(2): (v. t.) To hinder or check, as growth, expansion, progress, etc.; to stifle.
(3): (v. t.) To render unable to breathe by filling, pressing upon, or squeezing the windpipe; to stifle; to suffocate; to strangle.
(4): (v. t.) To affect with a sense of strangulation by passion or strong feeling.
(5): (v. t.) To make a choke, as in a cartridge, or in the bore of the barrel of a shotgun.
(6): (v. i.) To have the windpipe stopped; to have a spasm of the throat, caused by stoppage or irritation of the windpipe; to be strangled.
(7): (v. i.) To be checked, as if by choking; to stick.
(8): (n.) A stoppage or irritation of the windpipe, producing the feeling of strangulation.
(9): (n.) The tied end of a cartridge.
(10): (n.) A constriction in the bore of a shotgun, case of a rocket, etc.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types [4]
Matthew 13:7 (a) This is a graphic way of stating that the sorrows and cares of this earth may drive out the influence and the effect of the Word of GOD in the soul.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [5]
chōk ( πνίγω , pnı́gō , and its compounds): Is used in its primary sense of "to strangle," or "to suffocate," in describing the fate of the swine ( Luke 8:33 the King James Version). The Revised Version (British and American) has "drowned," but "choked" is the correct rendering of the Greek word.
Figurative: It is used in the sense of "to strangle" "smother," "suffocate," as if by depriving of breath, in describing the fate of the young grain growing in the midst of thorns ( Matthew 13:7 ). The figurative is carried a little farther still in describing the way the word, planted in the heart, is overcome by the care of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches ( Matthew 13:22 ).
