💰 To pawn 🍷 A white wine 🦵 Ankle joint (animal) 🐎 To injure a leg

to hock

14 8.7

Give a valuable item to a pawn shop to get money

verb
/hɑk/

Informal

: empeñar

... you're in a hole the size of the Grand Canyon crying about having to hock your fiancйe's ring.
hock wedding rings
going to hock
hock jewels

Very competitive industry trying to get you to to in Hock to those guys.

Examples

Maybe if I hocked all my junk there'd be enough for a bus ticket back to Ohio.

Sunset Boulevard (1950)
I hocked the golf clubs, and found us a furnished apartment.

Carbon Copy (1981)
Either you hock your stuff or get the money from him.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
So I had to hock your silver.

Fiction book (1992)
Take anything we can hock.

ARQ (2016)
I'll hock my car, my clothes, my house, everything.

Dancing Lady (1933)
I'm gonna hock the drums.

The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
So, I hocked my wedding ring.

Blog text (24)
You hocked your jewels?

Mank (2020)
He decided to hock his guitar to get some quick cash for rent.

Synonyms

to pawn

vsto hock

55 5.6

Leave something with a shop that lends you money

also includes selling valuables to raise quick money when needed

to pand

vsto hock

Archaic

9.9

To give something to a pawnshop as security for a loan

is the modern general term used more widely

Antonyms

to buy back

22 3.4

To pay money to get something you once sold, lost, or gave away

Compounds

ham hock

4 4.8

A piece of pork from the lower leg used to flavor soups and stews

hock-joint

Specialized

9.6

A joint in the back leg of animals like horses similar to a human ankle

How Permanent

to sell

∞ 1.0

to hock

Informal

14 8.7

to pawn

55 5.6

Surface Forms

hock infinitive

hocked past

hocked past participle

hocking present participle

hocks third person singular

Etymology

A helpful way to remember the verb hock meaning 'to pawn' is to think of leaving something valuable at a shop as security for a loan. So to hock your phone or guitar is to give it to a shop for quick money.