hock

English

Wikipedia

Etymology 1

From hockamore, from the name of the German town of Hochheim am Main.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -/hɒk/, -hɑk/
• Rhymes: -ɒk, -ɑk

Noun

hock (plural hocks)

1. A Rhenish wine, of a light yellow color, either sparkling or still, from the Hochheim region, but often applied to all Rhenish wines.

Etymology 2

From Middle English hoch, hough, hocke, from Old English hōh, from Proto-Germanic *hanhaz (cf. West Frisian hakke, Dutch hak, Low German Hack), from Proto-Indo-European *kenk (compare Lithuanian kìnka ‘leg, thigh, knee-cap’, kenklė̃ ‘knee-cap’, Sanskrit कङ्काल (kaṅkāla) ‘skeleton’)

Noun

hock (plural hocks)

1. The tarsal joint of a digitigrade quadruped, such as a horse, pig or dog.
2. Meat from that part of a food animal.

Derived terms

• rattle one's hocks

Translations

tarsal jount of a digitigrade quadruped

• Finnish: kinner (fi)
• Russian: скакательный сустав (ru) (skakatelʹnyj sustav) m

• Walloon: djeret (wa) m

meat from that part of a food animal

• Finnish: kinner (fi)

• Russian: окорок (ru) (okorok) m

Verb

hock (third-person singular simple present hocks, present participle hocking, simple past and past participle hocked)

1. (transitive) To disable by cutting the tendons of the hock; to hamstring; to hough.

Etymology 3

(Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this etymology?) From Dutch hok (“prison, debt”).

Verb

hock (third-person singular simple present hocks, present participle hocking, simple past and past participle hocked)

1. (transitive, colloquial) To leave with a pawnbroker as security for a loan.

Translations

leave with a pawnbroker as security

• Dutch: verpanden (nl)
• Finnish: kinner (fi)

• Russian: закладывать (ru) (zakladyvatʹ)
• Spanish: empeñarse

Noun

hock (uncountable)

1. Pawn, obligation as collateral for a loan.

   He needed $750 to get his guitar out of hock at the pawnshop.

   • 2012 April 25, Patty Murphy, “Business bulletin”, Associated Press, page 10A:

     But Ford Motor Co. needs another agency, either Standard & Poor's or Moody's, to make the same upgrade before it can get its blue oval logo, factories and other assets out of hock.

2. Debt.

   They were in hock to the bank for $35 million.

3. Installment purchase.
   • 2007, Tara Hanks, The Mmm Girl: Marilyn Monroe, by Herself, page 28:

     Later, Uncle Doc bought a couch on hock, then a bed.

4. Prison.

Derived terms

• Hock Monday
• Hock Tuesday

Etymology 4

Wikipedia

Yiddish האַק (hak), imperative singular form of האַקן (hakn, “to knock”), from the idiomatic expression האַק מיר נישט קען טשײַניק (hak mir nisht ken tshaynik, “don't hock me a teakettle”)

Alternative forms

• hak

Verb

hock (third-person singular simple present hocks, present participle hocking, simple past and past participle hocked)

1. (US) To bother; to pester; to annoy incessantly

Anagrams

• Koch