Choanoid Cho"a·noid adjective [ Greek ... funnel +
-oid .]
(Anat.) Funnel-shaped; -- applied particularly to a hollow muscle attached to the ball of the eye in many reptiles and mammals.
Chocard Cho"card noun (Zoology) The chough.
Chock Chock transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Chocked ;
present participle & verbal noun Chocking .]
To stop or fasten, as with a wedge, or block; to scotch; as, to chock a wheel or cask.
Chock Chock intransitive verb To fill up, as a cavity. "The woodwork . . . exactly
chocketh into joints."
Fuller.
Chock Chock noun 1. A wedge, or block made to fit in any space which it is desired to fill, esp. something to steady a cask or other body, or prevent it from moving, by fitting into the space around or beneath it. 2. (Nautical) A heavy casting of metal, usually fixed near the gunwale. It has two short horn- shaped arms curving inward, between which ropes or hawsers may pass for towing, mooring, etc.
Chock Chock adverb (Nautical) Entirely; quite; as, chock home; chock aft.
Chock Chock transitive verb [ French
choquer . Confer
Shock ,
transitive verb ]
To encounter. [ Obsolete]
Chock Chock noun An encounter. [ Obsolete]
Chock-full Chock"-full` adjective Quite full; choke-full.
Chockablock Chock"a·block adjective (Nautical) Hoisted as high as the tackle will admit; brought close together, as the two blocks of a tackle in hoisting.
Chocolate Choc"o·late noun [ Spanish , from the Mexican name of the cacao. Confer
Cacao ,
Cocoa .]
1. A paste or cake composed of the roasted seeds of the Theobroma Cacao ground and mixed with other ingredients, usually sugar, and cinnamon or vanilla. 2. The beverage made by dissolving a portion of the paste or cake in boiling water or milk. Chocolate house ,
a house in which customers may be served with chocolate. --
Chocolate nut .
See Cacao .
Choctaws Choc"taws noun plural ;
sing. Choctaw .
(Ethnol.) A tribe of North American Indians (Southern Appalachian), in early times noted for their pursuit of agriculture, and for living at peace with the white settlers. They are now one of the civilized tribes of the Indian Territory.
Chode Chode (chōd),
the old imperfect of chide . See Chide .
Chogset Chog"set noun (Zoology) See Cunner .
Choice Choice (chois)
noun [ Middle English
chois , Old French
chois , French
choix , from
choisir to choose; of German origin; confer Goth.
kausjan to examine,
kiusan to choose, examine, German
kiesen . √46. Confer
Choose .]
1. Act of choosing; the voluntary act of selecting or separating from two or more things that which is preferred; the determination of the mind in preferring one thing to another; election. 2. The power or opportunity of choosing; option. Choice there is not, unless the thing which we take be so in our power that we might have refused it.
Hooker.
3. Care in selecting; judgment or skill in distinguishing what is to be preferred, and in giving a preference; discrimination. I imagine they [ the apothegms of Cæsar] were collected with judgment and choice .
Bacon.
4. A sufficient number to choose among. Shak. 5. The thing or person chosen; that which is approved and selected in preference to others; selection. The common wealth is sick of their own choice .
Shak.
6. The best part; that which is preferable. The flower and choice
Of many provinces from bound to bound.
Milton.
To make a choice of ,
to choose; to select; to separate and take in preference. Syn. - See
Volition ,
Option .
Choice Choice adjective [
Compar. Choicer ;
superl. Choicest .]
1. Worthly of being chosen or preferred; select; superior; precious; valuable. My choicest hours of life are lost.
Swift.
2. Preserving or using with care, as valuable; frugal; -- used with of ; as, to be choice of time, or of money. 3. Selected with care, and due attention to preference; deliberately chosen. Choice word measured phrase.
Wordsworth.
Syn. - Select; precious; exquisite; uncommon; rare; chary; careful/
Choiceful Choice"ful adjective Making choices; fickle. [ Obsolete]
His choiceful sense with every change doth fit.
Spenser.
Choicely Choice"ly adverb 1. With care in choosing; with nice regard to preference. "A band of men collected
choicely , from each county some."
Shak. 2. In a preferable or excellent manner; excellently; eminently. "
Choicely good."
Walton.
Choiceness Choice"ness noun The quality of being of particular value or worth; nicely; excellence.
Choir Choir noun [ Middle English
quer , Old French
cuer , French
chœur , from Latin
chorus a choral dance, chorus, choir, from Greek ..., orig. dancing place; probably akin to ... inclosure, Latin
hortus garden, and English
yard . See
Chorus .]
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. (Architecture) 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 (Architecture) ,
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 transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Choked ;
present participle & verbal noun Choking .] [ Middle English
cheken ,
choken ; confer Anglo-Saxon
āceocian to suffocate, Icelandic
koka to gulp, English
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 intransitive verb 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 noun 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.
Choke damp Choke" damp` See Carbonic acid , under Carbonic .
Choke pear Choke" pear` 1. A kind of pear that has a rough, astringent taste, and is swallowed with difficulty, or which contracts the mucous membrane of the mouth. 2. A sarcasm by which one is put to silence; anything that can not be answered. [ Low] S. Richardson.
Choke-full Choke"-full` adjective Full to the brim; quite full; chock-full.
Choke-strap Choke"-strap` noun (Saddlery) A strap leading from the bellyband to the lower part of the collar, to keep the collar in place.
Chokeberry Choke"ber`ry noun (Botany) The small apple-shaped or pear-shaped fruit of an American shrub ( Pyrus arbutifolia ) growing in damp thickets; also, the shrub.
Chokebore Choke"bore` noun 1. In a shotgun, a bore which is tapered to a slightly smaller diameter at a short distance (usually 2½ to 3 inches) to the rear of the muzzle, in order to prevent the rapid dispersion of the shot. 2. A shotgun that is made with such a bore.
Chokebore Choke"bore` transitive verb [
imperfect & past participle Chokebored ;
present participle & verbal noun Chokeboring .]
To provide with a chokebore.
Chokecherry Choke"cher`ry noun (Botany) The astringent fruit of a species of wild cherry ( Prunus Virginiana ); also, the bush or tree which bears such fruit.
Chokedar Cho`ke·dar" noun [ Hindi
chaukī-dār .]
A watchman; an officer of customs or police. [ India]
Choker Chok"er noun 1. One who, or that which, chokes. 2. A stiff wide cravat; a stock. [ Slang]
Choking Chok"ing adjective 1. That chokes; producing the feeling of strangulation. 2. Indistinct in utterance, as the voice of a person affected with strong emotion.
Choking coil Choking coil (Electricity) A coil of small resistance and large inductance, used in an alternating-current circuit to impede or throttle the current, or to change its phase; -- called also reactance coil or reactor , these terms being now preferred in engineering usage.
Choky Cho"ky noun [ From Hind.
chauki watching, guard.]
1. A station, as for collection of customs, for palanquin bearers, police, etc. [ India]
2. Specif., a prison or lockup; a jail. [ India, or Slang, Eng.]
Choky Chokey Chok"y Chok"ey adjective 1. Tending to choke or suffocate, or having power to suffocate. 2. Inclined to choke, as a person affected with strong emotion. "A deep and
choky voice."
Aytoun. The allusion to his mother made Tom feel rather chokey .
T. Hughes.
Cholagogue Chol"a·gogue adjective [ Greek ...; ... bile + ... leading, ... to lead: confer French
cholagogue .]
(Medicine) Promoting the discharge of bile from the system. --
noun An agent which promotes the discharge of bile from the system.
Cholate Cho"late noun [ Greek ... bile.]
(Chemistry) A salt of cholic acid; as, sodium cholate .
Cholecystis Chol`e·cys"tis noun [ New Latin , from Greek ... bile + ... bladder.]
(Anat.) The gall bladder.
Cholecystotomy Chol`e·cys·tot"o·my noun [
Cholecystis + Greek ... to cut.]
(Surg.) The operation of making an opening in the gall bladder, as for the removal of a gallstone.
Choledology Chol`e·dol"o·gy noun [ Greek ... bile +
-logy . Confer French
cholédologie .]
(Medicine) A treatise on the bile and bilary organs. Dunglison. » Littré says that the word
cholédologie is absolutely barbarous, there being no Greek word .... A proper form would be
cholology .
Choleic Cho·le"ic adjective (Physiol. Chem.) Pertaining to, or obtained from, bile; as, choleic acid.
Choler Chol"er noun [ Middle English
coler , French
colère anger, Latin
cholera a bilious complaint, from Greek ... cholera, from ..., ..., bile. See
Gall , and confer
Cholera .]
1. The bile; -- formerly supposed to be the seat and cause of irascibility. [ Obsolete]
His [ Richard Hooker's] complexion . . . was sanguine, with a mixture of choler ; and yet his motion was slow.
I. Warton.
2. Irritation of the passions; anger; wrath. He is rash and very sudden in choler .
Shak.
Cholera Chol"er·a noun [ Latin , a bilious disease. See
Choler .]
(Medicine) One of several diseases affecting the digestive and intestinal tract and more or less dangerous to life, esp. the one commonly called Asiatic cholera . Asiatic cholera ,
a malignant and rapidly fatal disease, originating in Asia and frequently epidemic in the more filthy sections of other lands, to which the germ or specific poison may have been carried. It is characterized by diarrhea, rice-water evacuations, vomiting, cramps, pinched expression, and lividity, rapidly passing into a state of collapse, followed by death, or by a stage of reaction of fever. --
Cholera bacillus .
See Comma bacillus . --
Cholera infantum ,
a dangerous summer disease, of infants, caused by hot weather, bad air, or poor milk, and especially fatal in large cities. --
Cholera morbus ,
a disease characterized by vomiting and purging, with gripings and cramps, usually caused by imprudence in diet or by gastrointestinal disturbance. --
Chicken cholera .
See under Chicken . --
Hog cholera .
See under Hog . --
Sporadic cholera ,
a disease somewhat resembling the Asiatic cholera, but originating where it occurs, and rarely becoming epidemic.
Choleraic Chol`er·a"ic adjective Relating to, or resulting from, or resembling, cholera.
Choleric Chol"er·ic adjective [ Latin
cholericus , Greek ...: confer French
cholérique .]
1. Abounding with, or producing choler, or bile. Dryden. 2. Easily irritated; irascible; inclined to anger. 3. Angry; indicating anger; excited by anger. "
Choleric speech."
Sir W. Raleigh. Choleric temperament ,
the bilious temperament.
Cholericly Chol"er·ic·ly adverb In a choleric manner; angrily.
Choleriform Chol"er·i·form` adjective [
Cholera +
-form .]
Resembling cholera.
Cholerine Chol"er·ine noun (Medicine) (a) The precursory symptoms of cholera. (b) The first stage of epidemic cholera. (c) A mild form of cholera.
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