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Cough vs Choke - What's the difference?

cough | choke |

As verbs the difference between cough and choke

is that cough is to push air from the lungs in a quick, noisy explosion while choke is to be unable to breathe because of obstruction of the windpipe, for instance food or other objects that go down the wrong way.

As nouns the difference between cough and choke

is that cough is a sudden, usually noisy expulsion of air from the lungs, often involuntary while choke is a control on a carburetor to adjust the air/fuel mixture when the engine is cold.

cough

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • To push air from the lungs in a quick, noisy explosion.
  • * , chapter=3
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the cough'ing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about ' cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.}}
  • * , title=(Jeeves in the Offing)
  • , section=chapter XI , passage=I drew a deep breath, and a moment later wished I hadn't, because I drew it while drinking the remains of my gin and tonic. “Does Kipper know of this?“ I said, when I had finished coughing .}}
  • To make a noise like a cough.
  • Derived terms

    * cougher * cough up

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A sudden, usually noisy expulsion of air from the lungs, often involuntary.
  • Behind me, I heard a distinct, dry cough .
  • A condition that causes one to cough; a tendency to cough.
  • Sorry, I can't come to work today – I've got a nasty cough .
  • He was – cough – indisposed.

    Hyponyms

    * barking cough * churchyard cough * congested cough * dry cough * hacking cough * loose cough * non-productive cough * productive cough * smoker's cough * wet cough

    Derived terms

    * cough mixture * cough syrup * whooping cough

    choke

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (l) (obsolete) * (l) (obsolete) * (l) (dialectal)

    Verb

    (chok)
  • To be unable to breathe because of obstruction of the windpipe, for instance food or other objects that go down the wrong way.
  • To prevent someone from breathing by strangling or filling the windpipe.
  • * Shakespeare
  • With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder.
  • To obstruct by filling up or clogging any passage; to block up.
  • to choke a cave passage with boulders and mud
    (Addison)
  • To hinder or check, as growth, expansion, progress, etc.; to stifle.
  • * Dryden
  • Oats and darnel choke the rising corn.
  • (intransitive, fluid mechanics, of a duct) to reach a condition of maximum flowrate, due to the flow at the narrowest point of the duct becoming sonic (Ma = 1).
  • To perform badly at a crucial stage of a competition because one is nervous, especially when one is winning.
  • To move one's fingers very close to the tip of a pencil, brush or other art tool.
  • To be checked, as if by choking; to stick.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • The words choked in his throat.
  • To affect with a sense of strangulation by passion or strong feeling.
  • * Jonathan Swift
  • I was choked at this word.
  • To make a choke, as in a cartridge, or in the bore of the barrel of a shotgun.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • A control on a carburetor to adjust the air/fuel mixture when the engine is cold.
  • (sports) In wrestling, karate (etc.), a type of hold that can result in strangulation.
  • A constriction at the muzzle end of a shotgun barrel which affects the spread of the shot.
  • A partial or complete blockage (of boulders, mud, etc.) in a cave passage.
  • The mass of immature florets in the centre of the bud of an artichoke.
  • Derived terms

    * choker * choke collar * unchoke

    See also

    * strangle English ergative verbs