nock

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɒk/

  • Audio (Southern England):

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• Rhymes: -ɒk
• Homophone: knock

From 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”).^[1]

nock (plural nocks)

1. Either of the two grooves in a bow that hold the bowstring.
   • 1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, The White Company, New York, N.Y., Boston, Mass.: Thomas Y[oung] Crowell & Company […], →OCLC:

     Meanwhile there had been bustle and preparation in all parts of the great vessel. The archers stood in groups about the decks, new-stringing their bows, and testing that they were firm at the nocks.

   • 1905–1906, Arthur Conan Doyle, Sir Nigel, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], published January 1906, →OCLC:

     Each drew his string from its waterproof case and bent the huge arc of his war-bow as he fitted it into the nocks.

3. (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, volume (please specify the book number), London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC:

     He took his arrow by the nock.

     The spelling has been modernized.

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

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

2. (transitive) To fit (an arrow) against the bowstring of a bow or crossbow.

   Synonym: notch (verb)

   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC:

     Then taking up his own good stout bow and nocking an arrow with care, he shot with his very greatest skill.

3. (transitive) To cut a nock in (usually in an arrow's base or the tips of a bow).
   • 1891, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, The White Company, New York, N.Y., Boston, Mass.: Thomas Y[oung] Crowell & Company […], →OCLC:

     It is a Scotch bow, I see, for the upper nock is without and the lower within. By the black rood! it is a good piece of yew, well nocked, well strung, well waxed, and very joyful to the feel.

nock!

1. (archery) Fit the arrow to your bowstring.

nock

1. Misspelling of knock.

nock

1. Misspelling of knock.
   • 1917, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Bab: A Sub-Deb‎^[1]:

     I put my hair up, and was just finished, when mother nocked. It was terrable^[sic].

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Nock”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC.

• conk

Borrowed from Middle Low German nok, nokke. Cognate of Dutch nok. Likely cognate of Icelandic hnokki. Compare origin of nocka, nucka.

nock c

1. ridge (of a roof)
2. (mechanics) tappet
3. (archery) nock
4. (nautical) end (of a yard, arm, boom, or gaff)

• bomnock
• nockhöjd
• nockpanna
• rånock
• taknock

• nock in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker
• nock in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)
• nock in Svenskt nautiskt lexikon (1920)