in hock
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Dutch hok (“hutch, hovel, jail, pen, doghouse”).[1]
Prepositional phrase
[edit]- Having been pawned.
- Her necklace is in hock in order to cover some family expenses.
- (figurative, by extension) Indebted. [with to ‘someone’]
- 2022 June 5, Ezra Klein, “Your Kids Are Not Doomed”, in The New York Times[1]:
- The wind doesn’t stop blowing because an autocrat has a tantrum; harnessing the solar radiation that bathes our world doesn’t leave us in hock to the House of Saud.
Derived terms
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “in hock”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.