▪ I. nock, n.1
(nɒk)
Forms: 4–7 nocke, 5–6 nokke, 6 Sc. (k)nok, 6– nock.
[Of obscure origin, but possibly the same word as next, although the specific meaning does not appear to be recorded in MDu. or MLG.
Florio gives It. nocca, nocchia, nocco, nocchio, as meaning ‘the nocke of a bow’, but the genuineness of this is extremely doubtful. Kilian's ‘Nocke, kerfken in den pijl, crena,..incisura sagittæ quæ neruum admittit’ is not otherwise certified, and is rendered suspicious by his citing ‘Ang. nock’. The origin of Sw. nock or nokk in the sense of notch or incision is quite obscure.]
1. Archery. a. Originally, one of the small tips of horn fixed at each end of a bow and provided with a notch for holding the string (obs.); in later use, the notch cut in this or in the bow itself.
In the Promp. Parv. (quot. 1440) app. also applied to the tip of a spindle; but cf. nock n.3
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xviii. xiii. (Bodl. MS.), Of hornes beþ made tippinges and nockes for arblastes and bowes and arowes. c 1440 Lydg. Hors, Shepe, & G. 380 Of the sheepe is cast a-way no thyng: His horn for nokkis, to haftis goth the bone. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 357/2 Nokke of a bowe, or a spyndylle, or other lyke, tenorculus,..clavicula. 1513 Douglas æneis xi. xvi 60 Hir hornit bow [she] has bent,..Syne halis vp..Quhill that the bowand nokkis met almaist. 1530 Palsgr. 248/1 Nocke of a bowe, oche de larc. 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 119 Whan the strynge is..put croked on, or shorne in sundre wyth an euell nocke. 1548 Elyot, Tenus, Seruius iudgeth it to be the nockes or endes of a bowe. 1625 Lisle Du Bartas, Noe 32 A bow that shines aloft..and bending ore the rocks Against a misly Sun i' th' Ocean dips her nocks. 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports 505/1 In each of the tips of horn is a notch for the string, called ‘the nock’. |
b. A small piece of horn fixed in the butt-end of an arrow, provided with a notch for receiving the bowstring; also, the notch itself.
| 1530 Palsgr. 248/1 Nocke of a shafte, oche de la flesche. [See also nock v. 2.] 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 127 The nocke of the shafte is dyuersly made, for some be greate and full, some hansome and lytle, some wyde, some narowe. a 1585 Montgomerie Misc. Poems xvii. 6 Quhais Turkie bou and quaver bleu, Quhairin appeirit noks aneu. 1612 Brinsley Lud. Lit. 33 His ruling pen..is to be made with a nocke in the neb or point of it, like the nocke of an arrow. 1840 Hansard Bk. Archery 387 The nock of English arrows, for a century past, has been a piece of taper horn glued into the wood. 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports 507/2 The feathers..may be smoothed down by passing them through the hand from the point towards the nock. 1884 F. R. Stockton Lady or Tiger? etc. 69 ‘When you draw your bow; bring the nock of your arrow’—he was always very particular about technical terms—‘well up to your ear’. |
† c. The notch in a cross-bow for receiving the string when the bow is bent for shooting. Obs.
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 569 Greit corce bowis,..Fast to the knok war buklit vp in bend. Ibid., The bent bowis..Out of the nok ane ganȝe wald lat go. 1620 Shelton Quix. ii. xxxv. 237 For my soul indeed is trauersed in my throte, like the nocke [Sp. nuez] of a crosse-bow. |
† d. In phrases, out of nock, out of order; above or beyond the nock, above or beyond measure. Obs.
| 15.. Parl. Byrdes 80 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 171 Then crowed agayne the More Cocke, The Hauke bringeth much thing out of Nocke. a 1530 J. Heywood Love (Brandl) 484 Where or whan she lyst gyue a mock, She coulde and wolde do it beyonde the nock. 1530 Palsgr. 489/2 He commendeth hym by yonde the nocke, il le prise oultre bort, or oultre mesure. 1553 T. Wilson Rhet. (1580) 60 On now, praise we, a Gods name, the single life aboue the nocke. |
† 2. The cleft in the buttocks; the breech or fundament. Obs.
| 1533 J. Heywood Play of the Wether (Brandl) 1065 Yf hys tale be not lyckly Ye shall lycke my tayle in the nocke. 1611 Cotgr., La raye du cul, the nock, fould, or dint betweene the buttocks. 1668 Cleveland's Old Gill ii, Her Breath smells like Lox, Or unwiped Nocks. a 1704 T. Brown Imit. Satire Persius Wks. 1730 I. 52 To have..Your precious lines serv'd up to nocks, or pye. 1708 Brit. Apollo No. 17. 3/2 Victoria's thin Smock, Tho' but down to your Nock. |
| Comb. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 186 He had unreverently plaied upon Cornishmen as if they were seated in the nocke-hole of the world. 1632 Quarles Divine Fancies Wks. (Grosart) II. 252 Thy nock-shorn Cloake, with a round narrow Cape. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. xiii, You will thereby feel in your nockhole a most wonderful pleasure. |
† b. Used without article. Obs. rare.
| 1663 Butler Hud. i. i. 285 Noses, which Wou'd last as long as parent breech; But when the date of Nock was out, Off dropt the sympathetick snout. 1674 T. Flatman Belly God 50 The Muscle, or the Cockle will unlock Thy bodies trunck, and give a vent to nock. |
▪ II. nock, n.2 Naut.
(nɒk)
Also 6 nok.
[a. the synonymous Du., Flem., and Fris. nok or LG. nokk, whence also G. and Sw. nock, Da. nok. These words also occur in other special senses, denoting a projection, point, or tip of some kind: cf. prec.]
† 1. Sc. The tip or extremity of a yard-arm. Obs.
| 1513 Douglas æneis iii. viii. 83 Anon the nokkis of our rays we writh; Doun fallis the schetis of the salis swith. Ibid. v. xiv. 9 Thai..Set in a fang, and threw the ra abak, Baith to and fra all did thar nokkis wry. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 41 Pul doune the nok of the ra in daggar vyise. |
2. In sails: (see quot. 1794).
| 1794 Rigging & Seamanship 84 The nock and peek are lashed by the earings. Ibid. 88 Nock, the foremost upper corner of boomsails, and of staysails cut with a square tack. 1841 Dana Seaman's Man. 116 Nock, the forward upper end of a sail that sets with a boom. 1851 Kipping Sailm. (ed. 2) 24 To determine the height of the nock of the sail. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. 498. |
| attrib. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship 7 Nock-earing, the rope that fastens the nock of the sail. Ibid. 93 Mizens..have..a nock-piece and a peek-piece. Ibid. 108 If the depth of the nock-seam be subtracted. |
▪ III. † nock, n.3 Obs. rare.
Also 6 nok.
[Of Scand. origin, corresp. to Icel. hnokki, Fær. nokki, Norw. and Da. nokke, Sw. nocke, with the same meaning.]
A small hook fixed upon a spindle.
| c 1450 Holland Howlat 57 My neb is netherit as a nok, I am bot ane Owle. 15.. Wooing of Jock 54 in Laing Anc. Poet. Scot. 360 Ane spindill wantand ane nok. |
| attrib. 1577 Gascoigne Grief of Joy Wks. (Grosart) II. 265 The strongest thryd y{supt} ever yet was sponne..Is nock-throwen yet even with y⊇ spindles twyst. |
▪ IV. nock
variant of knock n.1 2, a clock.
| 1853 Reade Chr. Johnstone 294 Flucker informed her that the nock said ‘half eleven’. |
▪ V. nock, v.
(nɒk)
[f. nock n.1]
1. trans. To provide (a bow or arrow) with a nock or notch. Usu. in pa. pple. nocked.
| ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 942 Ten brode arowis hilde he there,..they were shaven wel and dight, Nokked and fethered aright. c 1500 Robyn Hode cxxxii. in Child Ballads III. 62/6 Euery arowe..With pecok wel idyght, Inocked all with whyte siluer. 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 111 You must looke that youre bowe be well nocked for fere the sharpnesse of the horne shere a sunder the strynge. 1590 Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 46 b, Their bowes of Yeugh, long and well nocked and backed. 1611 Cotgr., Oché,..nocked, notched. Rencocher, to nocke the second time. |
2. To fit (the arrow) to the bowstring ready for shooting.
| 1513 Douglas æneis v. ix. 44 With arrow reddy nokkit than Evritioune Plukkis wp in hy his bow. 1530 Palsgr. 644/1, I nocke an arrowe, I put the nocke in to the strynge, je encoyche. 1561 Brende Q. Curtius viii. 81 Their arrowes were so longe and heavy, that they could not nocke them within theyr bowes. 1590 Sir J. Smyth Disc. Weapons 20 b, To drawe their arrowes out of their cases..to nocke them in their Bowes. ? 1613 Spelman in Capt. Smith's Wks. (Arb.) I. p. cxiv, Till they can nocke another arrow they make the trees ther defence. 1647 Herrick Noble Numb. Poems (1902) 331 God..doth show No Arrow nockt, onely a stringlesse Bow. a 1835 Motherwell Poems (1847) 178 Nock a shaft and strike down that proud doe. 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports 507/2 In shooting at the target, the first thing to be done is to nock the arrow. |
| absol. 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 132 As it were to gyue a man warning to nocke ryght. Ibid. 148 To nocke well is the easiest poynte of all. 1611 Sir W. Mure Misc. Poems ii. 26 Wks. (S.T.S.) I. 10 The blindit god arywed, His bow bent in his hand ready to nocke. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 377/2 Always nock on the same place. |
Hence nocked (nɒkt), ppl. a.; ˈnocking vbl. n.
nocking point, the point of the bowstring to which the notch of the arrow is applied.
| 1545 R. Ascham Toxoph. (Arb.) 109 To haue a goose quyll splettyd and sewed againste the nockynge, betwixt the lining and the ledder. Ibid. 148 Vnconstante nockynge maketh a man lesse hys lengthe. 1611 Florio, Accoccatura, a nocking. [1801 Strutt Sports & Past. ii. i. 56 A proper attention was to be paid to the nocking, that is, the application of the notch at the bottom of the arrow to the bow⁓string.] 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports 507/2 Turn the arrow.., and fix it on the nocking point of the string. 1859 R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geogr. Soc. XXIX. 332 Flourishing his spear and agitating his bow, probably with nocked arrow. |