nock

See also: Nock

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɒk/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒk

Etymology 1

Middle English nokke, attested since the 14th century, probably from a Scandinavian/North Germanic language (compare Swedish nock (“notch”), but compare Dutch nok, from Middle Dutch nocke (“tip, point”). Both could be related to nook (“corner, recess”).

Noun

nock (plural nocks)

1. Either of the two grooves in a bow that hold the bowstring.
2. (archery) The notch at the rear of an arrow that fits on the bowstring.
   • [1611?], Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volumes (please specify the book number), London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC:

     He took his arrow by the nock.

     The spelling has been modernized.

3. (nautical) The upper fore corner of a boom sail or trysail.

Translations

the notch at the rear of an arrow

• Finnish: hahlo (fi), jänneura, nokki (fi)
• German: Nocke (de) f
• Irish: eang f
• Ottoman Turkish: گز (gez), سوفار (sufar)
• Persian: سوفار (fa) (sufâr)
• Turkish: gez (tr)
• Welsh: hicyn m

Verb

nock (third-person singular simple present nocks, present participle nocking, simple past and past participle nocked)

1. (transitive) To fit an arrow against the bowstring of a bow or crossbow. (See also notch (verb).)
2. (transitive) To cut a nock in (usually in an arrow's base or the tips of a bow).

Etymology 2

Noun

nock (plural nocks)

1. Misspelling of knock.

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Anagrams

• conk