hock

Etymology 1

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

noun

1. A 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

Etymology 2

From Middle English hough, hoche, hokke, 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”)).

noun

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

verb

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

Etymology 3

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

verb

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

noun

1. Pawn, obligation as collateral for a loan.
   He needed $750 to get his guitar out of hock at the pawnshop.
   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. April 25, 2012, Patty Murphy, “Business bulletin”, in Associated Press, page 10A
2. Debt.
   They were in hock to the bank for $35 million.
3. Installment 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. Prison.

Etymology 4

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”).

verb

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

Etymology 5

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”).

verb

1. To cough heavily, especially 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.
      to hock a loogie

Etymology 6

noun

1. (card games) The last card turned up in the game of faro.
   Coordinate term: soda