hock

[ hok ]

/ hɒk /

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.

RELATED WORDS

pledge, borrow

Nearby words

Origin of hock

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

Definition for hock (2 of 3)

hock

[ hok ]

/ hɒk /

noun Chiefly British.

any white Rhine wine.

Origin of hock

1615–25; short for Hockamore Hochheimer

Definition for hock (3 of 3)

hock

[ hok ]

/ hɒk /

verb (used with object)

pawn¹.

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

1855–60, Americanism; < Dutch hok kennel, sty, pen, (informal) miserable place to live, prison

Related formshock·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for 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|DAILY BEAST
Attorneys for Hock and Jah could not be reached for comment.
Royal Showdown in New York Court|Lizzie Crocker|February 4, 2013|DAILY BEAST
According to court documents, Hock flatly denies the allegations.
Royal Showdown in New York Court|Lizzie Crocker|February 4, 2013|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST

Hock, the source says, was the aggressor who clocked Casiraghi first.
Royal Showdown in New York Court|Lizzie Crocker|February 4, 2013|DAILY BEAST
In carving a ham, begin not quite in the centre, but a little nearer to the hock.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various Branches|Eliza Leslie
The hock is the large and freely movable joint which is immediately above the hind cannon-bone.
The Horsewoman|Alice M. Hayes
This affection, popularly termed bone spavin, is an exostosis of the hock joint.
Special Report on Diseases of the Horse|United States Department of Agriculture
It had a dim memory of some old-time slaughter—perhaps of Danes—commemorated in its play of Hock Tuesday.
From Gretna Green to Land's End|Katharine Lee Bates
The piece when finished should have nearly the form of a regular oval, with its projecting handle or hock.
Home Pork Making|A. W. Fulton

British Dictionary definitions for hock (1 of 3)

hock

/ (hɒk) /

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

British Dictionary definitions for hock (2 of 3)

hock

/ (hɒk) /

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

British Dictionary definitions for hock (3 of 3)

hock

/ (hɒk) informal, mainly US and Canadian /

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, noun

Word Origin for hock

C19: from Dutch hok prison, debt

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

Word Origin and History for hock (1 of 3)

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."

Word Origin and History for hock (1 of 3)

hock

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.

Word Origin and History for hock (2 of 3)

hock

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]