Meanings
plural chock-houses
- A juke joint that sold chock, a highly potent homemade beer known commonly sold in logging and turpentine camps.
When Jefferson did play juke joints or chock houses he would sometimes have a fiddler to accompany him, often Lorenzo Ross.
2012, Jonathan S. Lower, THE AMERICAN BLUES: MEN, MYTHS, AND MOTIFS, page 422 more examples
In the 'chock-houses' where a crude form of alcohol cost a matter of cents, pianists hit the keys in a rough-and-ready combination of ragtime and blues: barrelhouse, as it was called, after the rudest of joints where barrels supported a plank for the bar.
2008, Jeff Place, Classic Piano Blues, page 4In 1915 he performed on Dallas radio station WWR, and continued to play for tips at various social gathering places, including chock-houses (homes or stores where home-brewed alcohol was served) and juke joints in Dallas.
2020, boppinbob, “Whistlin' Alex Moore born 22 November 1899”, in From the Vaults
Synonyms & antonyms
Cite this entry
chock-house. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chock-house
“chock-house.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chock-house. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chock-house,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chock-house.
Source: chock-house on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.