Now chiefly colloq. Also Choaky, chocky, chokey. [f. CHOKE v. + -Y1.]
1. Apt to choke one who tries to swallow it; harsh, dry and gritty. Said of fruit, and transf.
1579. Langham, Gard. Health (1633), 459. The sower, rough and choky Peares.
1638. Wilkins, New World, xi. (1707), 91. Keplar … guesses that the Earth there is of a more choaky Soil.
1661. K. W., Conf. Charac. (1860), 38. A choaky peare … as bad and ill-savoured as ever.
1662. Fuller, Worthies, Warwicksh., 115. The Heart but not the Core of England, having nothing Course or Choaky therein.
1697. Dampier, Voy., I. x. 297. If it is kept … it becomes dry, and eats harsh and choaky.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb., 354. If milk be sour, the cheese … will always eat chocky and never eat fat.
2. Stifling, suffocating.
1690. Crowne, Eng. Frier, III. 29. The room within is close and Choaky.
3. Having or showing tendency to choking.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. iv. The allusion to his mother made Tom feel rather chokey.
1859. F. E. Paget, Curate of Cumberworth, 71. Daintily picking her way through a somewhat dark and choky shrubbery.
