Kelly from Alanson
wrote, “I've been thinking about the word sock. Someone can ‘sock someone in
the nose’, tell you to ‘put a sock in it,’ or ‘cover you feet with socks.’
Where did that word come from?”
Sock in the usual sense
(a stocking) comes from a Latin word, soccus, which meant a light slipper. Aside from the
idioms that Kelly provided, you can sock your money away, stand 5 feet tall in
your socks, knock someone’s socks off, pull your socks up, be someone’s sock
puppet, or observe a windsock at the airport. Those are all connected to sock,
n.1, in the Oxford English Dictionary.
A number of words share
the same spelling. My favorite is sock, v.1.
- sock, n.2: a ploughshare
- sock, n.3: suck given to a child
- sock, n.4: a sound thrashing
- sock, n.5: edibles of various kinds
- sock, n.6: a pet child or young animal
- sock, n.7: a small coin
- sock, n.8: abbreviation of socket
- sock, v.1: to sew a corpse into a shroud
- sock, v.2: to strike hard
- sock, v.3: to give a gift
- sock, v.4: to sigh
- sock, v.5: to provide with socks; to put money aside; to enshroud,
as a fog
Available from McFarland & Co.: Word Parts
Dictionary, 2nd edition
Nook edition
Nook edition
Listen to Mike’s program
in real time every Tuesday morning, 9:10 - 10:00 a.m. EST, by going to
wtcmradio.com and clicking on Listen Now. You’ll also find about a month’s worth of podcasts there under The
Ron Jolly Show.
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