hock meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

hock

noun

UK /hɒk/ · US /hɑk/

Etymology Clipping of hockamore, from German.

A Rhenish wine, of a light yellow color, either sparkling or still, from the Hochheim region; often applied to all Rhenish wines.

That night he strolled into the Palette Club about eleven o’clock, and found Trevor sitting by himself in the smoking-room drinking hock and seltzer.1891 [1887], Oscar Wilde, “The Model Millionaire”, in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories:
The dinner that they sat down to in the fly-specked dining-room was of boiled beef and carrots, with a turgid ginger pudding to follow, though Grierson went down to the cellar himself and found some dusty bottles of hock, overlooked for years because there was no demand for it in a beer-drinking community.1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 158:

Related terms: claret, sack, tent

hock

verb

Etymology From Middle English hough, hoche, hokke, from Old English hōh, from Proto-West Germanic *hą̄h, from Proto-Germanic *hanhaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kenk-. See also West Frisian hakke, Dutch hak, German Low German Hacke, Hack (“heel”); also Lithuanian ki̇̀nka (“leg, thigh, knee-cap”), kenklė̃ (“knee-cap”), Sanskrit कङ्काल (kaṅkāla, “skeleton”).

To disable by cutting the tendons of the hock; to hamstring; to hough.

Synonyms: hamstring, hough, hox
Hypernyms: disable

hock

noun

The tarsal joint of a digitigrade quadruped, such as a horse, pig or dog.

Anyway, you only have one golden retriever, SWORDDOG, and she is already armed to the hocks.2013, Kazerad, Gaius: Recap goals, in: Prequel -or- Making a Cat Cry: The Adventure (webcomic), February 06 2013

Meat from that part of a food animal.

The hollow behind the knee.

Derived terms: forehock, ham hock, heel, hock lock, rattle one's hocks, shake one's hocks, vulture hock

hock

verb

Etymology From the phrase in hock, circa 1855-60, from Dutch hok (“hutch, hovel, jail, pen, doghouse”). Compare also Middle English hukken (“to sell; peddle; sell at auction”), see huck.

Colloquial To leave with a pawnbroker as security for a loan.

Agent Beeman (Noah Emmerich): I think we got him. / Special Agent Gaad (Richard Thomas): Who? / Agent Beeman: I-I-I don't know. The guy who killed Chris, the--the Russians, the whole damn thing maybe. / Special Agent Gaad: You want to sit down? / Agent Beeman: The guy from the salvage yard who hocked the ring, and he does business with some riffraff from the projects.2013, “Only You” (20:08 from the start), in The Americans, season 1, episode 10:

Derived terms: hockshop, unhock

hock

noun

Etymology From the phrase in hock, circa 1855-60, from Dutch hok (“hutch, hovel, jail, pen, doghouse”). Compare also Middle English hukken (“to sell; peddle; sell at auction”), see huck.

Informal Pawn, obligation as collateral for a loan.

He needed $750 to get his guitar out of hock at the pawnshop.
But Ford Motor Co. needs another agency, either Standard & Poor's or Moody's, to make the same upgrade before it can get its blue oval logo, factories and other assets out of hock.2012 April 25, Patty Murphy, “Business bulletin”, in Associated Press, page 10A:

Informal Debt.

They were in hock to the bank for $35 million.

Informal Installment purchase.

Later, Uncle Doc bought a couch on hock, then a bed.2007, Tara Hanks, The Mmm Girl: Marilyn Monroe, by Herself, page 28:

Informal Prison.

Derived terms: Hock Monday, Hock Tuesday

hock

verb

Etymology From Yiddish האַק (hak), imperative singular form of האַקן (hakn, “to knock”), from the idiomatic expression האַק מיר נישט קיין טשײַניק (hak mir nisht keyn tshaynik, “don't knock a teakettle at me”).

US, Informal To bother; to pester; to annoy incessantly.

hock

noun

Card games, Games Informal The last card turned up in the game of faro.

Derived terms: soda to hock
Related terms: soon hock

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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Conjugation of “hock”, all tenses