choke-pear
[f. stem of choke v. + pear.]
1. A name given to rough, harsh, and unpalatable varieties of the pear, used for perry.
| 1530 Palsgr. 154 Estrangvillon, a choke peare. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 108 a, The wyld Pere tre or chouke Pere tre or worry Pear tre. 1563 Homilies ii. Almsdeeds ii. (1859) 391 The crab and choak-pear seem outwardly to have sometime as fair a red, and as mellow a colour, as the fruit which is good indeed. a 1664 Beale Aph. Cider xlv. in Evelyn Pomona, Of such unsufferable taste that hungry swine will..shake it out of their mouths;..the clowns call other pears, of best liquor, Choak-pears, and will offer money to such as dare adventure to taste them. 1672 Grew Anat. Plants vi. §3 (1682) 41 The Calculary (most observable in rough-tasted, or Choak-Pears). 1839 J. Buel Farmer's Compan. 269 It is as easy to cultivate the vergaleu as it is the choke pear. 1872 Rep. Vermont Board Agric. I. 107 Man, by his industry, skill and perseverance applied to the wild choke pear of our fields,..has transformed it. |
2. fig. Something difficult or impossible to ‘swallow’, make away with, or get over; a difficulty; a severe reproof; a ‘settler’, arch.; a gag (obs.). (Cf. F. poire d'angoisse, G. (Folter) Birne.)
| 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (1884) 8 He had givne us mani a choke pare in his dais. 1580 Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 321 He gave him a choake-peare to stoppe his breath. 1592 ― Midas iv. iii. 51. 1617 Collins Def. Bp. Ely ii. viii. 341 S. Austens testimonie..is a choake-peare that you cannot swallow. 1678 Cudworth Intell. Syst. Pref. 12 Who boggle so much at the Trinity, and look upon it as the choak-pear of Christianity. 1748 Richardson Clarissa II. viii. 40, I believe I have given her a choak-pear. Ibid. (J.), Pardon me for going so low as to talk of giving choke-pears. 1846 L. Hunt Stories fr. Ital. Poets I. 102 A great choke-pear to the commentators. 1868 N. I. Lucas Germ.-Engl. Dict., Birne,..choke-pear (as instrument of torture, forced into the mouth to prevent shrieking). |