/ hɒk; NAmE hɑːk/ noun , verb
■ noun
1.
[ C ] the middle joint of an animal's back leg
2.
[ U , C ] ( BrE ) a German white wine
3.
[ U , C ] ( especially NAmE ) = knuckle (2)
4.
[ U ] ( informal ) if sth that you own is in hock , you have exchanged it for money but hope to buy it back later
•
IDIOMS
- be in hock (to sb)
■ verb
[ vn ] ( informal ) to leave a valuable object with sb in exchange for money that you borrow
SYN pawn
••
WORD ORIGIN
noun sense 1 and noun sense 3 late Middle English : variant of hough .
noun sense 2 abbreviation of obsolete hockamore , alteration of German Hochheimer (Wein) (wine) from Hochheim.
noun sense 4 and verb mid 19th cent. (in the phrase in hock ): from Dutch hok hutch, prison, debt.