Middle English Dictionary Entry
acheken v.
Entry Info
| Forms | acheken v. Also achoken. Ppl. acheked, achoked. |
| Etymology | OE ācēocian. ME ẹ̄ , ọ̄ as in chẹ̄sen, chọ̄sen; MnE choke, choke-ful, chock-ful prob. have OE *o. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
Note: Cp. cheken v.
1.
(a) To choke, strangle, or suffocate (sb.); (b) to obstruct (sth.).
Associated quotations
a
- a1200 Trin.Hom.(Trin-C B.14.52)181 : [Adam] þar-offe bot, and wearð þar mide acheked and þureh þat one snede wearð al his ofspring acheked.
- c1300 SLeg.Silv.(1) (LdMisc 108)31 : A fisches bon schet in is þrote..He was a-choked a-non.
- a1400 Lanfranc (Ashm 1396)218/17 : Leting blood [under the tongue], if his bodi were replet, he miȝt liȝtli be achekid.
- a1400 Lanfranc (Ashm 1396)221/6 : Sche eet no mete in manye daies tofore, & sche durste not slepe for drede lest sche schulde be achekid.
- c1430(c1386) Chaucer LGW (Benson-Robinson)2008 : Whan that Theseus seth The beste achoked, he shal on hym lepe.
b
- ?a1425(c1380) Chaucer Bo.(Benson-Robinson)2.pr.5.90 : Thow wolt achoken the fulfillynge of nature with superfluytees.
Supplemental Materials (draft)
Note: The etymology here, especially its long close vowels, should be revised in the light of Otto Ritter, "Englische Etymologien," Archiv 125 (= n.s. 25; 1910), pp. 160-161.