A mining term for carbon dioxide or other suffocating gases that accumulate in mines and can cause asphyxiation.
From 'choke' + 'damp' (from German 'Dampf' meaning vapor or steam). Miners' terminology combining the choking effect with the vapor.
Miners called deadly CO2 'chokedamp' and firedamp (methane) separately, and their desperate solution—using canaries in cages—became the gold standard for gas detection because the birds' physiology made them perfect biological early-warning systems.
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