Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
hock 1[hok] ExamplesWord Origin See more synonyms for hock on Thesaurus.com noun
- the joint in the hind leg of a horse, cow, etc., above the fetlock joint, corresponding anatomically to the ankle in humans.
- a corresponding joint in a fowl.
verb (used with object)
- to hamstring.
Origin of hock 1 1375–1425; variant of dial. hough, Middle English ho(u)gh, apparently back formation from late Middle English hokschyn, etc., Old English hōhsinu hock (literally, heel) sinew; see heel1 hock 2[hok] noun Chiefly British.
- any white Rhine wine.
Origin of hock 2 1615–25; short for Hockamore Hochheimer hock 3[hok] verb (used with object)
noun
- the state of being deposited or held as security; pawn: She was forced to put her good jewelry in hock.
- the condition of owing; debt: After the loan was paid, he was finally out of hock.
Origin of hock 3 1855–60, Americanism; Dutch hok kennel, sty, pen, (informal) miserable place to live, prisonRelated formshock·er, noun Related Words for hock pledge, borrow Examples from the Web for hock Contemporary Examples of hock
A man like Ti, my informant explains, buys jewels whenever he is in the money, to sell or hock when times are hard.
Portrait of the Consummate Con Man
John Lardner
May 17, 2014
Attorneys for Hock and Jah could not be reached for comment.
Royal Showdown in New York Court
Lizzie Crocker
February 4, 2013
According to court documents, Hock flatly denies the allegations.
Royal Showdown in New York Court
Lizzie Crocker
February 4, 2013
When Hock emerged from jail uninjured, both he and Strazzullo poured forth to the press.
Royal Showdown in New York Court
Lizzie Crocker
February 4, 2013
“The court speaks for itself,” Hock told me after his brief court appearance.
Royal Court Battle Averted With ‘Disorderly Conduct’ Plea
Lizzie Crocker
February 4, 2013
Historical Examples of hock
He was indeed wearied, and agreed to take a glass of hock and seltzer.
Earl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli
His daughter-in-law, but onbeknownsts to him as sech, nurses him from soda to hock.
Alfred Henry Lewis
The heel of the horse is the part commonly known as the hock.
Little Masterpieces of Science:
Various
They’d just got to hock Rajah to put the Imperial Consolidated in commission again.
Sewell Ford
I fear I indulged in the hock yesterday, for I feel a twinge.
Benjamin Disraeli
British Dictionary definitions for hock hock 1 noun
- the joint at the tarsus of a horse or similar animal, pointing backwards and corresponding to the human ankle
- the corresponding joint in domestic fowl
verb
- another word for hamstring
Word Origin for hock C16: short for hockshin, from Old English hōhsinu heel sinew hock 2 noun
- any of several white wines from the German Rhine
- (not in technical usage) any dry white wine
Word Origin for hock C17: short for obsolete hockamore Hochheimer hock 3 verb
- (tr) to pawn or pledge
noun
- the state of being in pawn (esp in the phrase in hock)
- in hock
- in prison
- in debt
- in pawn
Derived Formshocker, nounWord Origin for hock C19: from Dutch hok prison, debt Word Origin and History for hock n.1
“joint in the hind leg of a horse,” mid-15c., earlier hockshin (late 14c.), from Old English hohsinu “sinew of the heel, Achilles’ tendon,” literally “heel sinew,” from hoh “heel,” from Proto-Germanic *hanhaz (cf. German Hachse “hock,” Old English hæla “heel”), from PIE *kenk- (3) “heel, bend of the knee.”
n.2
“Rhenish wine,” 1620s, shortening of Hockamore, from German Hochheimer, “(wine) of Hochheim,” town on the Main where wine was made; sense extended to German white wines in general.
n.3
“pawn, debt,” 1859, American English, in hock, which meant both “in debt” and “in prison,” from Dutch hok “jail, pen, doghouse, hutch, hovel.” The verb is 1878, from the noun.
When one gambler is caught by another, smarter than himself, and is beat, then he is in hock. Men are only caught, or put in hock, on the race-tracks, or on the steamboats down South. … Among thieves a man is in hock when he is in prison. [G.W. Matsell, “Vocabulum,” 1859]