Meanings
nounchockstone (plural chockstones)
plural chockstones
- A stone, ranging in size from a boulder to a pebble, which has become wedged in a vertical fissure or cleft.
In these coldest hours before dawn, from three until six, I take up my knife again and hack at the chockstone. I continue to make minimal but visible progress in the divot.
2004, Aron Ralston, 127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Simon and Schuster, published 2011, page 68 - climbingA metal wedge or nut, threaded on a wire, used in rock climbing for protection by wedging it into a crack in the rock.
Origin
From chock + stone. The climbing sense derives from the wedges' use as artificial chockstones.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
chockstone. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chockstone
MLA
“chockstone.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chockstone. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chockstone,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chockstone.
Source: chockstone on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.