choice 
The choice and flower of all things profitable In other 
books. Hooker. 
Hobson's choice, a proverbial expression denoting a 
choice without an alternative ; the thing offered or no- 
thing. It is said to have had its origin in the practice of 
a. carrier and innkeeper at Cambridge, England, named 
Hobson, who let horses and coaches, and obliged each cus- 
tomer to take in his turn that horse which stood nearest 
the stable-door. 
Where to elect there is but one, 
'Tis llottsons choice ; take that or none. 
T. \Yard, England's Reformation, p. 326. 
Of Choice, select ; distinguished ; of worth or value : as, 
men of choice. To make choice of, to choose ; select ; 
separate and take in preference. 
He made Choice of wise and discreet Men to be his Coun- 
sellors. Baker, Chronicles, p. 52. 
= Syn. Preference, Election, etc. See option. 
II. a. 1 . Carefully selected ; well chosen : as, 
a choice epithet. 
Choice word and measured phrase, 
Above the reach of ordinary men. 
Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence, St. 14. 
2. Worthy of being preferred ; select ; notable ; 
precious. 
Er this day was done, or droghe to the night, 
All chaunget the chere of this chaise maidon. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 8171. 
The choice and master spirits of this age. 
Shak., J. C., ill. 1. 
Thus in a sea of folly toss'd, 
My choicest hours of life are lost. Swift. 
A written word is the choicest of relics. 
Thoreau, Walden, p. 111. 
3. Careful ; frugal ; chary ; preserving or using 
with care, as valuable : with of. 
He that is choice of his time will also be choice of his com- 
pany, and choice of his actions. Jer. Taylor, Holy Living. 
4f. Noble ; excellent. 
There the grekes hade grymly ben gird ynto dethe, 
Hade not Achilles ben cheualrous & chaise of his dedis. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 5248. 
=Syn. 2. Costly, exquisite, uncommon, rare, excellent. 
3. Sparing. 
choice-drawnt (chois'dran), a. Selected with 
particular care. [Bare.] 
Who is he, whose chin is but enrieh'd 
With one appearing hair, that will not follow 
These cull'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to France ? 
Shak., Hen. V., iii. (cho.). 
choicefult (chois ' ful), a. < choice + -ful, 1.] 
1. Offering a choice; varied: as, "choiceful 
plenty," Hull-ester, Colonies, p. 681. 2. Making 
many choices ; fitful ; changeful ; fickle. 
His choiceful sense with every change doth fit. Spenser. 
choiceless (chois 'les), a. [< choice + -less."] 
Not having the power of choosing; destitute of 
free will. Hammond. [Rare.] 
choicely (chois'li), adv. [< ME. choisly, choisli, 
< chois, adj., + -ly, -ly 2 .] 1 . With care in choos- 
ing ; with nice regard to preference ; with judi- 
cious choice. 
A band of men, 
Collected choicely, from each county some. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 
2. In an eminent degree. 
Old fashioned poetry, but choicely good. 
/. Walton, Complete Angler, i. 4. 
3. With great care; carefully: as, a thing 
choicely preserved. 
choiceness (chois ' nes), n. [< choice + -ness.] 
The quality of being choice, (a) Justness of dis- 
crimination; nicety: as, " choiccness of phrase," B. Jon- 
son, Discoveries. (6) Particular value or worth ; excel- 
lence : as, the choiceness of wine. 
Plants . . . for their choiceness preserved in pots. 
Evelyn, Calendarium Hortense. 
choice-note (chois'not), n. In weal mime, one 
of several notes of different pitch or value, 
printed together upon the staff, in order that 
the singer may take that one which is best 
adapted to his voice, 
choile (choil), v. t. To overreach. Halliwcll. 
[Prov. Eng. (Yorkshire).] 
choir (kwir), . [A corrupt spelling of quire 1 , 
"restored" to choir (without a change of pro- 
nunciation) in the latter part of the 16th cen- 
tury, in imperfect imitation of F. chceur or the 
orig. L. chorus : see quire^- and chorus.] 1. Any 
company of singers. 
He asked, but all the heavenly quire stood mute. 
Milton, P. L., iii. 217. 
2. An organized company of singers, (a) Espe- 
cially, such a company employed in church service. 
The choir, 
With all the choicest music of the kingdom, 
Together sung Te Deum. Shak., Hen. VIII., iv. 1. 
Then let the pealing organ blow 
To the full-voiced quire below. 
Milton, II Penseroso, 1. 161. 
The choir have not one common-metre hymn to drag 
them down to the people in the pews below. 
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 157. 
(6) A choral society, especially one that performs sacred 
music. In eight-part music a chorus is divided into tlrst 
974 
and second choirs, (c) In the Ani/lican Church, an official 
body consisting of the minor canons, the choral vicars, 
anil the choristers connected with a cathedral, whose func- 
tion is to perform the daily choral service. Such a choir 
is divided into two sections, called decani and cantoris. 
sitting on the right and left sides respectively ; of these 
the decani side forms the leading or principal section. 
See cantoris, d<-:-<uu\ 
S. That part of a church which is, or is con- 
sidered as, appropriated for the use of the sing- 
ers. In churches of fully developed plan, that part be- 
tween the nave and the apse which is reserved for can- 
ons, priests, monks, and choristers during divine service. 
In cruciform churches the choir usually begins at the 
transepts and occupies the head of the cross, including the 
Choir "f Amiens Cathedral, France. 
altar (see cut under cathedral) ; but sometimes, especially 
in monastic churches, it extends beyond the transepts, 
thus encroaching upon the nave. In churches without 
ny an ornamental oarrier or grauiig (.see cfioir-ttcreeit), and 
separated from the nave by a rood-screen. See chancel. 
The rich stream 
Of lords and ladies, having brought the queen 
To a prepar'd place in the choir, fell off 
A distance from her. Shak., Hen. VIII., iv. 1. 
4. A company; a band, originally of persons 
dancing to music : loosely applied to an assem- 
bly for any ceremonial purpose. 
We, that are of purer fire, 
Imitate the starry quire, 
Who, in their nightly watchful spheres, 
Lead in swift round the months and years. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 112. 
And high-born Howard, more majestic sire, 
With fool of quality, completes the quire. 
Pope, Dunciad, 1. 298. 
How often have I led thy sportive choir 
With tuneless pipe beside the murmuring Loire. 
Goldsmith, Traveller, 1. 243. 
Formerly and still occasionally quire. 
choir (kwir), t\ t. and i. [< choir for quire, n.; 
same as quire 1 , r.] To sing in company. 
On either side lof the Virgin], round the steps of the 
throne, is a crowd of choiring angels. Farrar. 
choir-boy (kwlr'boi), n. A member of a boy- 
choir ; a boy who sings in a choir. 
choiristert, n. An obsolete form of chorister. 
choir-office (kwir' of "is), . 1. Same as choir- 
service, 1. 2. In the Bom. C'ath. Ch., any one of 
the seven canonical hours. 3. The breviary- 
office. Lee, Eccl. Terms. 
Choir-screen, Cathedral of Lincoln, England. 
choke 
choir-organ (kwir'&r"gan), . In large organs, 
the third principal section of the instrument, 
of less power than the great organ, and con- 
taining stops specially suited for choir accom- 
paniment. Once called the chair-organ; occa- 
sionally, also, the positive oiymi. 
choir-pitch (kwir'pich), n. The ancient church- 
pitch of Germany, said to be about one tone 
higher than the concert-pitch. 
choir-ruler (kwlr'ro'ler), n. Eccles., one of 
the church officers who preside, in place of the 
precentor, over the singing of the psalms on 
the more important festivals. The choir-rulers 
wear copes, and are two or four in number, ac- 
cording to the rank of the festival. 
Until a late period, even if they do not still, several 
churches on the continent put staves into the hands of 
the choir-rulers, as is still practised in Belgium. 
Kock, Church of our Fathers, ii. 204. 
choir-screen (kwir'skren), n. An ornamental 
screen of wood, stone, or metal, often in open- 
work, dividing the choir or chancel of a church 
from the aisles or the ambulatory, usually in 
such a manner as not to obstruct sight or 
sound, but sometimes a solid wall cutting off 
all view of the floor of the choir from the aisles. 
See cut in preceding column. 
choir-service (kwir' ser" vis), . 1. The ser- 
vice of singing performed by a choir. Also 
called choir-office. 2. A service or an office 
chanted or recited in the choir of a church. 
Lee, Eccl. Terms. 
choir-tippet (kwlr'tip"et), n. A scarf or hood 
worn as a protection against cold or drafts by 
the clergy officiating in the choir of a church. 
See amice 2 . 
choke 1 (chok), f. ; pret. and pp. choked, ppr. 
choking. [Also until recently spelled choak; 
dial, chuck (see c/iocfc 1 ); < ME. choken, chcken, 
choke, < AS. "eeocian (in comp. d-ceocian : see 
achoke) = Icel. koka, gulp (cf. kol; the gullet, 
esp. of birds : see chokes) ; prob. orig. imitative 
of the guttural or gurgling sounds uttered by 
one who is choking, and so akin to chuckl, 
chuckle^, cackle, cough, kitttfl, all ult. imitative 
words containing a repeated guttural : see these 
words.] I. trans. 1. To stop the breath of by 
preventing access of air to the windpipe ; suf- 
focate ; stifle. 
And the herd ran violently down a steep place, . . . and 
were choked in the sea. Mark v. 13. 
Specifically 2. To deprive of the power of 
breathing, either temporarily or permanently, 
by stricture of or obstruction in me windpipe ; 
constrict or stop up the windpipe of so as to 
hinder or prevent breathing ; strangle. 
With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder. 
Shah., Rich. II., ii. 1. 
We can almost fancy that we see and hear the great 
English debater . . . choked by the rushing multitude of 
his words. Macaulay, Sir J. Mackintosh. 
3. To stop by filling ; obstruct ; block up : often 
with up : as, to choke tip the entrance of a har- 
bor or any passage. 
The vines and the mulberry-trees, the food of the silk- 
worm whose endless cocoons choke up the market-place, 
witness to the richness of the land. 
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 48. 
4. To hinder by obstruction or impediments; 
overpower, hinder, or check the growth, expan- 
sion, or progress of ; stifle ; smother. 
And some fell among thorns ; and the thorns sprung up 
and choked them. Mat. xiii. 7. 
Tho 1 mists and clouds do choke her window light. 
Sir J . Davies, Immortal, of Soul. 
5. To suppress or stifle. 
Confess thee freely of thy sin ; 
For to deny each article with oath 
Cannot remove, nor choke, the strong conception 
That I do groan withal. Shak., Othello, v. 2. 
6. To offend greatly ; revolt. [Rare.] 
I was choked at this word. Swift. 
7. Same as choke-bore. 
II. intrans. 1. To stifle or suffocate, as by 
obstruction and pressure in hastily swallowing 
food, or by irritation of the air-passages when 
fluids are accidentally admitted there. 
Who eats with too much speed may hap to choak. 
Heywood, Dialogues, p. 323. 
2. To be checked as if by choking; stick. 
The words choked in his throat. Scott. 
choke 1 (chok), n. [< choke 1 , '.] 1. The con- 
striction of the bore of a choke-bored gun. 2. 
The neck or portion of a rocket where the stick 
is attached. 3. The tie at the end of a car- 
tridge. 
choke 2 (chok), . [The last syllable of arti- 
choke.'] The filamentous or capillary part of 
the artichoke. 
