hock

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments (6)  · 
“
In the hind- leg of a horse, for example, the angle called the hock is the same part which in us forms the heel; and the horse, and all other quadrupeds, with almost the solitary exception of the bear, walk, in reality, upon what answers to the toes of a human being.

View all »
Definitions (23)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. noun The tarsal joint of the hind leg of a digitigrade quadruped, such as a horse, corresponding to the human ankle but bending in the opposite direction.
  2. noun A joint in the leg of a domestic fowl similar to the hock of a quadruped.
  3. noun A small cut of meat, especially ham, from the front or hind leg directly above the foot.
5 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (3)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (4)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • A hock was also sprained, but the horse seemed to have escaped serious injury. —  Mary Jo Putney - The Rake.htm
  • Ham-hock, with a gloating in his eyes, sent a sepia paw toward the goggles which lay unprotected on a glass shelf His hand passed through the goggles. —  025 - Land of Always-Night
  • He sighted Doc, yelled Ham-hock, also wearing goggles, dived swiftly to the mobster's side. —  025 - Land of Always-Night
  • First pass a rope around each limb at the hock, then with hand or repeller push the buttocks backward and upward, until the feet can be brought up into the passages. —  Special Report on Diseases of the Horse
  • The hamstring and the lateral ligaments of the hock are now cut through, and the limbs extended by a rope tied round the lower end of the long bone above (tibia). —  Special Report on Diseases of the Horse
More examples »
 

Tags

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 128 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Suggestions Wordniks Suggest

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

madeira ·  claret ·  seltzer ·  burgundy ·  carpus ·  vermouth ·  malmsey ·  lemonade ·  apollinaris ·  lasagne ·  tierce ·  pastern
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (7)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. Middle English, from Old English hōh, heel.
  2. Short for obsolete Hockamore, alteration of German Hochheimer, from Hochheim, a town of west-central Germany.
  3. Probably from Dutch hok, prison.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. from Middle English hok, hokke, hoc, from Anglo-Saxon hoc (genitive hocces), also called hoc-leáf (see hock-leaf), mallow: cf. Welsh hocys, mallows. Now only in comp. hollyhock, hock-herb, hock-leaf, q. v.
  2. Middle English hock.
  3. Origin obscure.
  4. Abbr. of hockamore, q. v.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/hɑk/
by American Heritage
Hear a sound »

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word a few times a year.

Recently looked up

frosts · infiltrating · Martydom · ceded · remembrance

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

Der dicke Dachdecker deckte dir dein Dach, drum dank dem dicken Dachdecker, dass der dicke Dachdecker dir dein Dach deckte. · weitläufig · und wenn sie nicht gestorben sind, so leben sie noch heute · redescheu · selbstverständlich