The Meaning of Sock
Sock - a short word, only four letters. We all know what it means, don't we? Well think again.
The Oxford English Dictionary has thirteen entries for the word "sock", eight as nouns and five as verbs. Within these entries, there are over 30 definitions. These include, bewilderingly:
A light shoe, slipper or pump
A clog, sandal or patten
A short stocking covering the foot and usually reaching to the calf of the leg
A sock used for storing money, hence a store of money
A light shoe worn by comic actors on the ancient Greek and Roman stage
An inner warm sole for a shoe
A ploughshare
Ploughed land
Breast feeding (obselete)
Moisture collecting in the soil
Drainage of a dunghill, liquid manure
A blow, a beating
A strong impact, emphasis, a 'kick'
The last chorus of a song
A high-hat cymbal
Eton slang for eatables, especially dainties
A pet child or young animal
A small coin
A pocket
Credit or 'tick'
Abbreviation of 'socket'
To sew a corpse into a shroud
To beat, strike hard, hit
To give a hard blow to, especially to take large sums of money from someone
To drive or thrust in or into something
To perform jazz music in a vigorous manner
To scold or upbraid violently
Eton slang again, to treat someone to dainty eatables, to eat same
To sigh
To provide with socks
To put money aside as savings
To shroud in fog or cloud
The ones about foot covering all seem to come from the Latin word soccus, a light, low-heeled shoe or slipper. So that's quite straightforward.
The definitions that involve violence are more puzzling. They seem to arise from the practice of 18th century footpads and ruffians striking their waylayee behind the ear with a sock full of wet sand, laying him by the way and making off with the money. This technique is said to stun the victim without leaving a mark or bruise. It is not known why they would wish to preserve the appearance of their victims. Perhaps muggers of a former age were just more considerate.
The sock connection with drainage, liquid manure and the like, is a corruption of 'soak' and unconnected with the state of marathon runners' feet. Likewise the breastfeeding meaning is a corruption of 'suck'.
Jazz and other popular music seem to have adopted the sock, with sock cymbal and sock chorus, but they also figure in the invitation to be quiet - 'put a sock in it'. Brass players muted their output with a sock or screwed up rag in the bell of the instrument. This was no doubt welcome to their neighbours.
The plough meaning is totally unconnected with the other definitions and is from a Celtic word meaning, guess what, a ploughshare.
|
