sockdologer
Britishnoun
-
a decisive blow or remark
-
an outstanding person or thing
Etymology
Origin of sockdologer
C19: of uncertain origin; perhaps from sock ² + doxology (in the sense: the closing act of a church service) + -er 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The answer was a sockdologer, and the representative of their lordships, after this brief exposition of sea law, made no more interruptions.”
From Scientific American • Sep. 14, 2011
In my opinion it was just a sockdologer.
From Tom Sawyer Abroad by Twain, Mark
I see Thomas Jefferson lookin' out from a cloud and sayin': "Give him another sockdologer; finish him"' And I see millions of men wavin' their hats and singin' "Glory Hallelujah!"
From Plunkitt of Tammany Hall: a series of very plain talks on very practical politics, delivered by ex-Senator George Washington Plunkitt, the Tammany philosopher, from his rostrum—the New York County court house bootblack stand; Recorded by William L. Riordon by Plunkitt, George Washington
It's only an opinion, it's only MY opinion and others may think different; but I said it then and I stand to it now—it was a sockdologer.
From Tom Sawyer Abroad by Twain, Mark
He looked surprised indeed, but made a rush, possibly thinking there had been some mistake and he had been kicked by a mule instead of receiving the sockdologer from the effeminate-looking dude.
From Oscar the Detective Or, Dudie Dunne, The Exquisite Detective by Halsey, Harlan Page
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.