hock1

[hok] /hɒk/
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)
3.
to hamstring.
Origin
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

hock2

[hok] /hɒk/
noun, Chiefly British
1.
any white Rhine wine.
Origin
1615-25; short for Hockamore Hochheimer

hock3

[hok] /hɒk/
verb (used with object)
1.
pawn.
noun
2.
the state of being deposited or held as security; pawn:
She was forced to put her good jewelry in hock.
3.
the condition of owing; debt:
After the loan was paid, he was finally out of hock.
Origin
1855-60, Americanism; < Dutch hok kennel, sty, pen, (informal) miserable place to live, prison
Related forms
hocker, noun
Examples from the web for hock
  • The major economies have put their populations into hock for years ahead to sustain a faulty system.
  • For whether students lose interest or leave their places, they and their families are now in hock to the eyeballs.
  • Or, in a pot, render out a bit of fat from a ham hock by browning it.
  • Because a loan is secured by the piece in hock, risk is finite.
  • Too many journalists now find themselves in hock to the charities that fly them around free.
  • In the wider world exploration is in hock to politics, where it exists to promote national glory.
  • Now he complains that the politicians are in hock to foreign drug giants.
  • It's one thing to be in hock locally and another to have your access to all funds at risk.
  • Sear hock, turning it as it browns and renders some fat.
British Dictionary definitions for hock

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
3.
another word for hamstring
Word Origin
C16: short for hockshin, from Old English hōhsinu heel sinew

hock2

/hɒk/
noun
1.
any of several white wines from the German Rhine
2.
(not in technical usage) any dry white wine
Word Origin
C17: short for obsolete hockamoreHochheimer

hock3

/hɒk/
verb
1.
(transitive) to pawn or pledge
noun
2.
the state of being in pawn (esp in the phrase in hock)
3.
in hock
  1. in prison
  2. in debt
  3. in pawn
Derived Forms
hocker, noun
Word Origin
C19: from Dutch hok prison, debt
Word Origin and History for hock
n.

"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."

"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.

"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]

Slang definitions & phrases for hock

hock 1

noun

The state of pawn: I've got to get my typewriter out of hock

verb

To pawn: I hocked my diamond ring (1878+)

Related Terms

in hock

[apparently fr Dutch hok, ''prison''; the earliest US use was in hock, ''in prison''; perhaps also fr the underworld phrase in hock, ''caught,'' fr the notion that one is taken ''by the heels,'' or hocks]


hock 2

verb

To pester; nag; chatter incessantly: whom my mother kept hocking my father to promote to director/ Stop already hocking us to be good/ with her hokking and her kvetching

[1940s+; fr Yiddish hok in the idiom hok a chynik, ''knock a teapot,'' meaning ''chatter constantly, talk foolishness,'' perhaps because such talking resembled the loud whacking of a pot]