The AI-powered English dictionary
plural chocks
Any object used as a wedge or filler, especially when placed behind a wheel to prevent it from rolling. quotations examples
On April 28, 1927, on Dutch Flats, below San Diego, Charles Lindbergh signaled chocks-away to those on the ground below him.
2000, Leonard Mosley, Lindbergh: A Biography, page 82
Artificial anchor points are those constructed from equipment carried by the team. These are usually the chocks or pitons placed in cracks or bolts drilled in the rock.
2006, Paul Tawrell, Camping & Wilderness Survival: The Ultimate Outdoors Book
(nautical) Any fitting or fixture used to restrict movement, especially movement of a line; traditionally was a fixture near a bulwark with two horns pointing towards each other, with a gap between where the line can be inserted. examples
third-person singular simple present chocks, present participle chocking, simple past and past participle chocked
(transitive) To stop or fasten, as with a wedge, or block; to scotch. quotations examples
Gondolas with drop or hopper doors not boarded over should have lading cleated and chocked so as to prevent shifting over doors.
1915, Railway Line Clearances and Car Dimensions Including Weight Limitations of Railroads in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Cuba
Alejandro jumped out and set the emergency brake (chocking the left rear wheel with a wood block he kept behind the cabina).
2010, J. C. McKenney, The Rainwoman, page 93
(intransitive, obsolete) To fill up, as a cavity. quotations
When the bells ring, the wood-work thereof shaketh and grapeth (no defect, but perfect of structure), and exactly chocketh into the joynts again; so that it may pass for the lively embleme of the sincere Christian, who, though he hath motum trepidationis, of fear and trembling, stands firmly fixt on the basis of a true faith.
1662, Thomas Fuller, Worthies of England
(nautical) To insert a line in a chock. examples
not comparable
(nautical) Entirely; quite. quotations examples
Tom Hickey, our good-humored, blundering cabin-boy, decorated since poor Schubert's death with the dignities of cook, is in that little dirty cot on the starboard side; the rest are bedded in rows, Mr. Brooks and myself chock aft.
1857, Elisha Kent Kane, Arctic Explorations, page 431
Merchant vessels usually hoist a little on the halyards, so as to clear the sail from the top, then belay them and get the lee sheet chock home; then haul home the weather sheet, shivering the sail by the braces to help it home, and hoist on the halyards until the leaches are well taut, taking a turn with the braces, if the wind is fresh, and slacking them as the yard goes up.
1862, Dana's Seamen's Friend: Containing a Treatise on Practical Seamanship
(obsolete) An encounter.
(obsolete) To encounter.
To make a dull sound. quotations examples
She saw him hurry to the door, heard the bolt chock. He tried the latch.
1913, D.H. Lawrence, chapter 1, in Sons and Lovers