hock

Meanings

Noun

• A Rhenish wine, of a light yellow color, either sparkling or still, from the Hochheim region; often applied to all Rhenish wines.
• The tarsal joint of a digitigrade quadruped, such as a horse, pig or dog.
• Meat from that part of a food animal.
• Pawn, obligation as collateral for a loan.
• Debt.
• Installment purchase.
• Prison.
• The last card turned up in the game of faro.

Verb

• To disable by cutting the tendons of the hock; to hamstring; to hough.
• To leave with a pawnbroker as security for a loan.
• To bother; to pester; to annoy incessantly.
• To cough heavily, especially causing uvular frication.

Related

Similar words

• hamstring, hough, hox

Origin

• , from the name of the German town of Hochheim am Main.
• From Middle English hough, hoche, hokke, from Old English hōh, from Proto-Germanic *hanhaz (compare West Frisian hakke, Dutch hak, German Low German), from Proto-Indo-European *kenk (compare Lithuanian kìnka, kenkle, Sanskrit कङ्काल).
• From the phrase in hock, circa 1855-60, from Dutch hok. Compare also Middle English hukken, see huck.
• From Yiddish האַק, imperative singular form of האַקן, from the idiomatic expression האַק מיר נישט קיין טשײַניק
• , from Proto-Germanic *hakkōną, from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng-.