hock

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

• (UK) IPA^(key): /hɒk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /hɑk/
• Rhymes: -ɒk, -ɑk

hock (countable and uncountable, plural hocks)

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

• claret, sack, tent

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

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.

• rattle one's hocks

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.

• hamstring, hough, hox

• See Thesaurus:disable

From the phrase in hock, circa 1855-60, from Dutch hok (“hutch, hovel, jail, pen, doghouse”). [1] Compare also Middle English hukken (“to sell; peddle; sell at auction”), see huck.

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.

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”, in 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.

• Hock Monday
• Hock Tuesday

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

• hak

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

Variant of hack; from Middle English hacken, hakken, from Old English *haccian ("to hack"; attested in tōhaccian (“to hack to pieces”)), from Proto-Germanic *hakkōną (“to chop; hoe; hew”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“to be sharp; peg; hook; handle”).

hock (plural hocks)

1. To cough heavily, esp. causing uvular frication.
   1. To cough while the vomit reflex is triggered; to gag.
   2. To produce mucus from coughing or clearing one's throat.

• hocker

• Koch