The AI-powered English dictionary
countable and uncountable, plural hocks
A Rhenish wine, of a light yellow color, either sparkling or still, from the Hochheim region; often applied to all Rhenish wines. quotations examples
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 , Oscar Wilde, “The Model Millionaire”, in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories
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, page 158
(countable) The tarsal joint of a digitigrade quadruped, such as a horse, pig or dog. examples
Meat from that part of a food animal. examples
(countable) The hollow behind the knee. examples
third-person singular simple present hocks, present participle hocking, simple past and past participle hocked
(transitive) To disable by cutting the tendons of the hock; to hamstring; to hough. examples
(transitive, colloquial) To leave with a pawnbroker as security for a loan. examples
uncountable
Pawn, obligation as collateral for a loan. quotations examples
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
Debt. examples
Installment purchase. quotations examples
Later, Uncle Doc bought a couch on hock, then a bed.
2007, Tara Hanks, The Mmm Girl: Marilyn Monroe, by Herself, page 28
Prison. examples
(US) To bother; to pester; to annoy incessantly. examples
To cough heavily, especially causing uvular frication.
To cough while the vomit reflex is triggered; to gag. examples
To produce mucus from coughing or clearing one's throat. examples
plural hocks
(card games) The last card turned up in the game of faro. examples