hock

plural hocks

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

   That night he strolled into the Palette Club about eleven o’clock, and found Trevor sitting by himself in the smoking-room drinking hock and seltzer.

   1891 [1887], Oscar Wilde, “The Model Millionaire”, in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories

   1 more example

   The dinner that they sat down to in the fly-specked dining-room was of boiled beef and carrots, with a turgid ginger pudding to follow, though Grierson went down to the cellar himself and found some dusty bottles of hock, overlooked for years because there was no demand for it in a beer-drinking community.

   1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 158

   Synonyms: Hochheimer

plural hocks

1. countableThe tarsal joint of a digitigrade quadruped, such as a horse, pig or dog.

   Anyway, you only have one golden retriever, SWORDDOG, and she is already armed to the hocks.

   2013, Kazerad, Gaius: Recap goals, in: Prequel -or- Making a Cat Cry: The Adventure (webcomic), February 06 2013

2. countableuncountableMeat from that part of a food animal.
3. countableThe hollow behind the knee.

present singular third person hocks · participle present hocking · participle past hocked · past hocked

1. transitiveTo disable by cutting the tendons of the hock; to hamstring; to hough.

   Synonyms: hamstring, hough, hox

present singular third person hocks · participle present hocking · participle past hocked · past hocked

1. colloquialtransitiveTo leave with a pawnbroker as security for a loan.

   “So telleth, Bender-- What hath happened to you body?” “I hocked it.” “Hocked it? Why wouldst thou do that?” “Same reason you hocked your teeth.” “Ah, booze money.” “I remember my body. Flabby, pasty-skinned, riddled with phlebitis. A good Republican body. God, I loved it.”

   1999 December 12, J. Stewart Burns, “A Head in the Polls” (11:16 from the start), in Futurama, season 2, episode 3, spoken by Bender (John DiMaggio)

   1 more example

   Agent Beeman (Noah Emmerich): I think we got him. / Special Agent Gaad (Richard Thomas): Who? / Agent Beeman: I-I-I don't know. The guy who killed Chris, the--the Russians, the whole damn thing maybe. / Special Agent Gaad: You want to sit down? / Agent Beeman: The guy from the salvage yard who hocked the ring, and he does business with some riffraff from the projects.

   2013, “Only You” (20:08 from the start), in The Americans, season 1, episode 10

1. informaluncountablePawn, obligation as collateral for a loan.

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

   1 more example

   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.

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

2. informaluncountableDebt.

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

3. informaluncountableInstallment purchase.

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

   2007, Tara Hanks, The Mmm Girl: Marilyn Monroe, by Herself, page 28

4. informaluncountablePrison.

present singular third person hocks · participle present hocking · participle past hocked · past hocked · alternative hak

1. USinformalTo bother; to pester; to annoy incessantly.

present singular third person hocks · participle present hocking · participle past hocked · past hocked

1. alternativeinformalAlternative form of hawk (“cough, clear one's throat of phlegm”).

plural hocks

1. alternativeinformalAlternative form of hawk (“cough”).

   […] said with another cough and a loud hock.

   2006 09, Barry Yelton, Scarecrow in Gray, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 99

   1 more example

   One or two coughs signified 1 or 2. Clearing a throat meant 3. A loud hock was 4 and a loud sneeze or spit indicated 5. The new system gained favor. Jerry figured the guards must have thought the POWs were near death given the volume of bodily noise coming from Alcatraz.

   2019 March 26, Alvin Townley, Captured: An American Prisoner of War in North Vietnam (Scholastic Focus), Scholastic Inc., →ISBN

   Synonyms: hocking

plural hocks

1. informalcard gamesThe last card turned up in the game of faro.

1. A surname.