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. (Arch.)
Defn: 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 (Arch.), 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, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Choked; p. pr. & vb. n. Choking.] Etym:
[OE. cheken, choken; cf. AS. aceocian to suffocate, Icel. koka to
gulp, E. 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.