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definitions

hock

1
[hok]
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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)

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

3
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

Related Words for hock

pledge, borrow

Examples from the Web for hock

Contemporary Examples of hock

Historical Examples of hock

  • He was indeed wearied, and agreed to take a glass of hock and seltzer.

    Vivian Grey

    Earl of Beaconsfield, Benjamin Disraeli

  • His daughter-in-law, but onbeknownsts to him as sech, nurses him from soda to hock.

    Faro Nell and Her Friends

    Alfred Henry Lewis

  • The heel of the horse is the part commonly known as the hock.

  • They'd just got to hock Rajah to put the Imperial Consolidated in commission again.

    Shorty McCabe

    Sewell Ford

  • I fear I indulged in the hock yesterday, for I feel a twinge.

    Tancred

    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
  1. in prison
  2. in debt
  3. 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
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]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper