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From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English chesen, from Old English ċēosan (“to choose, seek out, select, elect, decide, test, accept, settle for, approve”), from Proto-West Germanic *keusan, from Proto-Germanic *keusaną (“to test; to choose”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵéwseti (“to choose, taste”), from *ǵews- (“to taste, try”).

Cognates

Cognate with Saterland Frisian kjoze (“to choose”), West Frisian kieze (“to choose”), Dutch kiezen (“to choose”), Low German kesen (“to choose”), German kiesen (“to choose”), Danish kyse (“to frighten”), Faroese and Icelandic kjósa (“to vote; to elect; to choose; to prefer”), Norwegian Nynorsk kjosa, kjose (“to choose”), Swedish tjusa (“to charm; to bewitch”), Gothic 𐌺𐌹𐌿𐍃𐌰𐌽 (kiusan, “to test”), French choisir (“to choose”); also Breton diuz (“to choose”), Cornish and Welsh dewis (“to choose”), Latin gustō (“to taste, sample”), Ancient Greek γεύω (geúō, “to feed; to taste; to eat; to try; to enjoy”), Czech zkoušet (“to taste; to examine; to rehearse”), Polish kuszać (“to eat”), Russian кушать (kušatʹ, “to have a meal, to eat”), Serbo-Croatian ку̏шати, kȕšati (“to taste; to test”), Ukrainian ку́шати (kúšaty, “to taste; to eat”), куштува́ти (kuštuváty, “to taste”), Avestan 𐬰𐬀𐬊𐬱𐬀 (zaoša, “pleasure”), Baluchi and Pashto دوست (dost, “friend”), Northern Kurdish and Zazaki dost (“friend”), Persian دوسْت (dōst / dust, “friend; boyfriend or girlfriend; loved”), Sanskrit जुषते (juṣate, “to enjoy”).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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choose (third-person singular simple present chooses, present participle choosing, simple past chose or (nonstandard) choosed, past participle chosen or (nonstandard) choosed or (now colloquial) chose)

  1. To pick; to make the choice of; to select.
    I chose a nice ripe apple from the fruit bowl.
    • 1739, [David Hume], “Of the Influencing Motives of the Will”, in A Treatise of Human Nature: […], book II (Of the Passions), London: […] John Noon, […], →OCLC, part III (Of the Will and Direct Passions), page 249:
      Secondly, VVhen in exerting any paſſion in action, vve chuſe means inſufficient for the deſign'd end, and deceive ourſelves in our judgment of cauſes and effects.
    • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Two. The First of the Three Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 67–68:
      You may—the memory of what is past half makes me hope you will—have pain in this. A very, very brief time, and you will dismiss the recollection of it, gladly, as an unprofitable dream, from which it happened well that you awoke. May you be happy in the life you have chosen!
    • 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC:
      The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.
    • 1997 November 26, “Slain teen chose bad friends”, in Ellensburg Daily Record, volume 96, number 280, Ellensburg, Washington, page 9
  2. To elect.
    He was chosen as president in 1990.
  3. To decide to act in a certain way.
    I chose to walk to work today.
  4. To prefer; to wish; to desire.
    • 1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC:
      The landlady now returned to know if we did not choose a more genteel apartment.
    • 2016, Justin Deschamps, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      Choose truth, and find beauty. Choose love, and embrace change.
Usage notes
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Conjugation
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Conjugation of choose
infinitive (to) choose
present tense past tense
1st-person singular choose chose, choosed1
2nd-person singular choose, choosest† chose, choosed1, chosest†, choosedst†
3rd-person singular chooses, chooseth† chose, choosed1
plural choose
subjunctive choose chose, choosed1
imperative choose —
participles choosing chosen, choosed1, chose2

† Archaic or obsolete. 1 Nonstandard. 2 Colloquial.

Derived terms
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Translations
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Translations to be checked

Conjunction

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choose

  1. (mathematics) The binomial coefficient of the previous and following number.
    The number of distinct subsets of size k from a set of size n is or "n choose k".
See also
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English chose, chos, chooce, a Northern dialectal form of Middle English chois (“choice”). Cognate with Scots chose, choose, chuse (“choosing, choice, selection”). Doublet of choice, see which for more.

Noun

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choose (plural chooses)

  1. (obsolete, Northern England, Scotland) The act of choosing; selection.
  2. (obsolete, Northern England, Scotland) The power, right, or privilege of choosing; election.

References

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Anagrams

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