I. ˈsäk noun
( -s ; see sense 2a )
Etymology: Middle English socke, sokke, from Old English socc, from Latin soccus, a low-heeled light shoe, slipper, sock; akin to Greek sykchos, a shoe, sock, Avestan haxa sole of the foot
1. archaic : a low shoe or slipper
2.
a. or plural sox -ks : a knitted or woven covering for the foot usually extending above the ankle and sometimes to the knee and worn inside the shoe or other footwear
b. : a soft protective covering (as for the head of a golf club) resembling a sock
c. : sock lining
d.
[by shortening]
: wind sock
3.
a. : a shoe worn by actors in Greek and Roman comedy
b. : comedy as a literary or theatrical form : the comic stage — compare buskin 2b
4. : a receptacle for savings
in France, the money tends to disappear into the sock ; here it goes into circulation — Frank Gorrell
5. : a usually white band of foot color extending to the fetlock
a horse with three white socks
6. : stocking 2c
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
: to furnish socks to : put socks on
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English sok, sokk, from Middle French soc, from Old French — more at socket
chiefly Scotland : plowshare
IV. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse sökkva to cause to sink, sökkva to sink — more at sink
transitive verb
: to hit, strike, or apply forcefully
hailstones as big as pullet eggs were socking me on the head — Springfield (Massachusetts) Union
I pick a good one and sock it — Babe Ruth
socked the hot iron to the calf's side — Lewis Nordyke
intransitive verb
: to deliver a blow : hit
a miracle that a person as old … could sock as hard or holler as loud as she could — J.T.Farrell
the bull lunged forward and socked against the mattress shield that protected the horse — Barnaby Conrad
•
- sock it to
V. noun
( -s )
1. : a vigorous or violent blow
got a sock in the belly from somebody that made him plenty sick — H.A.Sinclair
2. : force , punch
surface-to-surface missiles will add new sock to the Army's firepower — Time
VI. adjective
Etymology: sock (IV)
1. slang : having a loud or forceful quality
dazzling chorus work and sock arrangements — Douglas Watt
2. slang : highly successful
wrote a sock first play and can't get on with a second — Time
VII. intransitive verb
Etymology: probably imitative
dialect England : sigh