sock

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sock

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• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɒk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /sɑk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒk

From Middle English socke, sokke, sok, from Old English socc (“sock, light shoe, slipper”), a West Germanic borrowing from Latin soccus (“a light shoe or slipper, buskin”), from Ancient Greek σύκχος (súkkhos, “a kind of shoe”), probably from Phrygian or from an Anatolian language. Beekes compares Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬑𐬀 (haxa, “sole of the foot”). Cognate with Scots sok (“sock, stocking”), West Frisian sok (“sock”), Dutch sok (“sock”), German Socke (“sock”), Danish sok, sokke (“sock”), Swedish sock, socka (“sock”), Icelandic sokkur (“sock”). Doublet of zocco; also related to zoccolo, socle, and zocalo.

sock (plural socks or (informal, nonstandard) sox)

2. (clothing) A knitted or woven covering for the foot.
3. (historical, uncommon) Synonym of soccus, a light shoe worn by Ancient Greek and Roman comedic actors.
4. A cat's or dog's lower leg that is a different color (usually white) from the color pattern on the rest of the animal.

   Synonym: mitten

5. (Internet slang) A sock puppet (type of online account).
6. (aviation, informal) Ellipsis of windsock.
   • 1985 March 21, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.1 History of the Flight”, in Aircraft Accident Report: United Airlines Flight 663, Boeing 727-222, N7647U, Denver, Colorado, May 31, 1984‎, page 4:

     At 1331:58, UA Flight 757 reported that it was ready for takeoff on runway 35R. However, at 1332:05, 7 seconds later, it reported, "Ah, this is seven fifty seven, our sock sitting in front of us gives us a pretty good tail wind so we're not ready to go yet." The controller asked the flight to advise him when conditions were better.

7. (firearms, informal) Ellipsis of gun sock.
8. A sleeve for a microphone to reduce noise.
   • 2024, Minelle Mahtani, May It Have a Happy Ending (page 42)

     Turns out a sock is a soft cylindrical cover that goes over the mic. The sock sat forlornly on the table. It looked lonely. It reminded me of me. Aaron told me I punctuated my p's too much — I'm too punchy — and that I needed to soften how I spoke. He told me to put the sock on the mic.

• → French: socquette
  • → Portuguese: soquete
• Japanese: ソックス (sokkusu) < socks
• Swahili: soksi < socks (plural)

Onomatopoeic. Compare Portuguese soco ("a hit with one's hand; a punch").

• (W. Eng. dial.): zock

sock

1. The sound of a punch or powerful blow.
   • 1989 June 5, The Canberra Times, Australia Captial Territory, page 10, column 2:

     Whap, Biff, Ooooof, Sock, Pow, Zok! Batman is back. Gotham City is again leaving its law and order in the hands of a man who wears plastic underpants over his tights.

sock (third-person singular simple present socks, present participle socking, simple past and past participle socked)

1. (slang, transitive) To hit or strike violently; to deliver a blow to.
   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A Conan Doyle, “In which Professor Challenger Goes Forth to Battle”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     "We must get the old dear out," said Lord Roxton to Malone. "He'll be had for manslaughter if we don't. What I mean, he's not responsible - he'll sock someone and be lagged for it."

   • 1951, J. D. Salinger, chapter 13, in The Catcher in the Rye, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC:

     What you should be is not yellow at all. If you're supposed to sock somebody in the jaw, and you sort of feel like doing it, you should do it.

   • 1951, James Jones, From Here to Eternity, Book Four:

     They may let you off the first time because you're new maybe. But the second time they'll sock it to you, give you a couple of days in the Hole, then throw you in Number Two.

   • 1961 November 10, Joseph Heller, “The Eternal City”, in Catch-22 , New York, N.Y.: Simon and Schuster, →OCLC, page 428:

     He wondered how many people were destitute that same night even in his own prosperous country, how many homes were shanties, how many husbands were drunk and wives socked, and how many children were bullied, abused or abandoned.

   • 2015 August 1, Ed Vulliamy, quoting William F. Buckley Jr., “‘Don’t call me a crypto-Nazi!’ The lost heart of political debate”, in The Guardian‎:

     As part of ABC’s coverage of the police “blue riot” that ensued in Chicago – batons cracking student skulls – Vidal calls Buckley a “crypto-Nazi” for justifying the brutality, to which Buckley snaps: “Listen to me you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in the goddamn face and you’ll stay plastered.”

2. (slang, transitive) To throw.

• sock into
• socked on the nose

sock (plural socks)

1. (slang) A violent blow; a punch.
   • 1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 21:

     ‘Say, does that sock in the jaw hurt any more? It was a dinger.’

sock (not comparable)

1. (slang, dated) Extremely successful.
   • 1960, Billboard magazine reviewer

     Sock performance on a catchy rhythm ditty with infectious tempo.

• socko

• sock in
• sockdolager

From French soc.

sock (plural socks)

1. A ploughshare.
   • D. Brewster, The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia

     In Wexford, the beam is shorter than in any of the other counties, and the sock in general is of cast iron.

From socket.

sock (plural socks)

1. (computing, networking) Abbreviation of socket.

See socka

sock c

1. sock

• socka
• strumpa

• sock in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)