choose
verbconjunctionnouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//t͡ʃuːz//
- Canada//t͡ʃuz//
- Australia//ʃʉːz//
To pick; to make the choice of; to select.
verb
- 1
To pick; to make the choice of; to select.
I chose a nice ripe apple from the fruit bowl.
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.
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!
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.
- 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.
The landlady now returned to know if we did not choose a more genteel apartment.
Choose truth, and find beauty. Choose love, and embrace change.
Etymology
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”).
conjunction
- 1
The binomial coefficient of the previous and following number.
The number of distinct subsets of size k from a set of size n is tbinom nk or "n choose k".
noun
- 1
obsoleteThe act of choosing; selection.
- 2
obsoleteThe power, right, or privilege of choosing; election.
Etymology
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.
Forms
- plural
- chooses
- past tense
- chose, choosed
- past participle
- chosen, choosed, chose
- present participle
- choosing
- third person singular
- chooses