hock

1
[ hok ]
See synonyms for hock on Thesaurus.com
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.

Origin of hock

1
First recorded in 1375–1425; variant of dialect hough, from Middle English hough, houh, houe “heel,” from Old English hōh “heel, hough, promontory”; see also heel1, Kew

Words Nearby hock

Other definitions for hock (2 of 3)

hock2
[ hok ]

nounChiefly British.
  1. any white Rhine wine.

Origin of hock

2
First recorded in 1615–25; short for HockamoreHochheimer

Other definitions for hock (3 of 3)

hock3
[ 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.

Origin of hock

3
An Americanism dating back to 1855–60; from Dutch hok “kennel, sty, pen, (informal) miserable place to live, prison”

Other words from hock

  • hocker, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use hock in a sentence

  • 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.

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

    The Observations of Henry | Jerome K. Jerome
  • 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.

    Wanderings in Patagonia | Julius Beerbohm

British Dictionary definitions for hock (1 of 3)

hock1

/ (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

Origin of hock

1
C16: short for hockshin, from Old English hōhsinu heel sinew

British Dictionary definitions for hock (2 of 3)

hock2

/ (hɒk) /


noun
  1. any of several white wines from the German Rhine

  2. (not in technical usage) any dry white wine

Origin of hock

2
C17: short for obsolete hockamore Hochheimer

British Dictionary definitions for hock (3 of 3)

hock3

/ (hɒk) informal, mainly US and Canadian /


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 prison

    • in debt

    • in pawn

Origin of hock

3
C19: from Dutch hok prison, debt

Derived forms of hock

  • hocker, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012