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View synonyms for hock

hock

1

[ hok ]

noun

  1. the joint in the hind leg of a horse, cow, etc., above the fetlock joint, corresponding anatomically to the ankle in humans.
  2. a corresponding joint in a fowl.


verb (used with object)

  1. to hamstring.

hock

2

[ hok ]

noun

, Chiefly British.
  1. any white Rhine wine.

hock

3

[ hok ]

verb (used with object)

noun

  1. the state of being deposited or held as security; pawn:

    She was forced to put her good jewelry in hock.

  2. the condition of owing; debt:

    After the loan was paid, he was finally out of hock.

hock

1

/ hɒk /

noun

  1. the joint at the tarsus of a horse or similar animal, pointing backwards and corresponding to the human ankle
  2. the corresponding joint in domestic fowl


verb

  1. another word for hamstring

hock

2

/ hɒk /

noun

  1. any of several white wines from the German Rhine
  2. (not in technical usage) any dry white wine

hock

3

/ hɒk /

verb

  1. tr to pawn or pledge

noun

  1. the state of being in pawn (esp in the phrase in hock )
  2. in hock
    in hock
    1. in prison
    2. in debt
    3. in pawn

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Derived Forms

  • ˈhocker, noun

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Other Words From

  • hocker noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of hock1

First recorded in 1375–1425; variant of dialect hough, from Middle English hough, houh, houe “heel,” from Old English hōh “heel, hough, promontory”; heel 1, Kew

Origin of hock2

First recorded in 1615–25; short for Hockamore Hochheimer

Origin of hock3

An Americanism dating back to 1855–60; from Dutch hok “kennel, sty, pen, (informal) miserable place to live, prison”

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Word History and Origins

Origin of hock1

C16: short for hockshin, from Old English hōhsinu heel sinew

Origin of hock2

C17: short for obsolete hockamore Hochheimer

Origin of hock3

C19: from Dutch hok prison, debt

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Example Sentences

A man like Ti, my informant explains, buys jewels whenever he is in the money, to sell or hock when times are hard.

Attorneys for Hock and Jah could not be reached for comment.

According to court documents, Hock flatly denies the allegations.

When Hock emerged from jail uninjured, both he and Strazzullo poured forth to the press.

Hock, the source says, was the aggressor who clocked Casiraghi first.

A pedantic fellow called for a bottle of hock at a tavern, which the waiter, not hearing distinctly, asked him to repeat.

If they liked to take a glass of hock with their tobacco, there was a bottle ready from the cellars of Johannisberg.

He nodded to me as though we had parted the day before, and ordered a chop and a small hock.

They clicked their heels and kissed her hand and drank her health many times in good hock.

Each leg will thus supply a comfortable Wellington, in which the point of the hock has become the heel.

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[fur-kin ]

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