choke off

choke off

1. To stop or prevent something from flowing normally. A noun or pronoun can be used between "choke" and "off." I was watering the flowers when Doug stepped on the hose and choked off the water supply.
2. To cause someone or something to have difficulty breathing. A noun or pronoun can be used between "choke" and "off." Undo the baby's top button before it chokes off her air supply!
3. To stop someone abruptly while they are talking. A noun or pronoun can be used between "choke" and "off." I had to choke him off because his boring story was putting me to sleep.
See also: choke, off
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

choke someone off

to prevent someone from continuing to talk. (A figurative use; does not imply physical choking.) The opposition choked the speakers' debate off before they finished. Why did they want to choke off the speakers?
See also: choke, off

choke something off

 
1. Lit. to restrict or strangle a living creature's windpipe. The tight collar on the cat tended to choke its airstream off. The collar choked off its airstream.
2. Fig. to put an end to debate or discussion; to stop the flow of words from any source. Are they going to choke the debate off? The chair tried to choke off debate but failed.
See also: choke, off
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

choke off

1. Put a stop to, throttle, as in Higher interest rates are choking off the real estate boom. [Early 1800s]
2. Stop someone from speaking or complaining, as in Throughout the debate the congressman had to be choked off to give the other candidate a chance to speak . [Slang; late 1800s]
See also: choke, off
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

choke off

v.
To prevent or stop the free flow of something: High tariffs choked off trade between the two countries. The car accident in the middle of the road choked the traffic off, and no one could get through.
See also: choke, off
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • involve with
  • involve with (someone or something)
  • involved with
  • arrange for
  • arrange for some time
  • arrange some music for
  • back into
  • back into (someone or something)
  • add in
  • angle
References in periodicals archive
The report follows US warnings over Iranian threats to choke off traffic
Iran military spots US aircraft carrier - army official
The UK Government's cuts programme has not helped and has acted to choke off recovery, with a range of forecasters slashing their growth predictions.
We'll deliver jobs legacy
WASHINGTON: Regimes that choke off citizens' access to the internet to try to quash pro-democracy movements in the Arab world are running scared and fighting a losing battle, a US diplomat said Wednesday.
Choking off internet won't stop Arab Spring: US official
"Many small shops are struggling and paying for parking could potentially choke off any recovery and lead to the closure of more shops."
Parking cost row
Summary: NEW ORLEANS, July 14, 2010, SPA -- BP froze activity on two key projects Wednesday meant to choke off the flow of oil billowing from its broken well in the Gulf of Mexico after days of moving confidently toward controlling the crisis.
fter days of progress, BP freezes work in Gulf
The spike could also choke off recovery in developed Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, it added.
Oil price rise a threat to economic recovery
Greenspan's bizarre advice notwithstanding, a rate increase will almost certainly choke off refinancing altogether.
Building on the bubble
Chief Superintendent Alan Jones says it is vital to choke off the supply that allows people to commit these crimes across the borough.
Police in campaign to beat fuel thieves
The findings suggest that the protein encoded by RASSF1A helps choke off malignancies and could lead to new cancer therapies.
Gene stifled in some lung, breast cancers
The reluctance of banks to support small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) could "choke off" recovery, he claimed.
Government wrong to bully banks; yourmoney
And as he campaigned in the marginal Edinburgh South seat with Holyrood leader Iain Gray, he urged Scots to help Labour stop Tory plans to "choke off" the economic recovery.
Murphy: Don't let Tory chokers win
The T cell system may choke off regeneration, Heber-Katz says.
Rare regeneration fixes pierced mouse ears
The wildfire rage - flaring in dozens of places at the same time - further strained Assad's security forces and military as they also try to choke off a refugee wave into Turkey.
Huge Syrian demos leave 14 dead; WORLDBULLETINS
IT seems to me, reading between the lines, that the Tories want to choke off the fragile economic recovery by simply introducing a massive hike in VAT.
your texts
And the PM will say Tory plans for big spending cuts would choke off recovery.
PM: We've beaten the recession; ECONOMY