different between shill vs hock

English

Etymology

Unknown; attested as verb 1914, as noun 1916. Perhaps an abbreviation of shillaber, attested 1913. The word entered English via carny, originally denoting a carnival worker who pretends to be a member of the audience in an attempt to elicit interest in an attraction.

Speculatively an extended form of German Schieber (“black marketeer, profiteer”) via *shi-la-ber.

There are some suggestions that it originates in the surname Shilaber or Shillibeer, especially George Shillibeer, but proposed origins are dubious as the word is first attested in North America in the 20th century, while proposed models are 19th century British.

American humorist Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber (1814–1890) was known to write under the name Mrs. Ruth Partington to lend credibility to some of his ideas. This is one more possible origin of the word, although there is no specific evidence supporting a connection.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Noun

shill (plural shills)

1. A person paid to endorse a product favourably, while pretending to be impartial.
   • 1983, Robert Anton Wilson, Prometheus Rising,

     Witnesses have testified that Jim Jones (like a few other professional faith-healers) used shills part of the time....

2. An accomplice at a confidence trick during an auction or gambling game.
   • 1994, Cormac McCarthy, The Crossing,

     The pitchman swept his cane in a slow acceleration over the heads of the crowd and then suddenly pointed the silver cap toward Billy and the shill.

3. (gambling) A house player in a casino.

Synonyms

• shillaber

Translations

Verb

shill (third-person singular simple present shills, present participle shilling, simple past and past participle shilled)

1. (derogatory) To promote or endorse in return for payment, especially dishonestly.
   • 1996, Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World,

     Today there are even commercials in which real scientists, some of considerable distinction, shill for corporations. They teach that scientists too will lie for money. As Tom Paine warned, inuring us to lies lays the groundwork for many other evils.

2. To put under cover; to sheal.
3. (Britain, obsolete, dialect) To shell.

Related terms

• sheep-dip

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Hills, hills

English

Etymology 1

From hockamore, from the name of the German town of Hochheim am Main.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /h?k/
• (US) IPA^(key): /h?k/
• Rhymes: -?k, -?k
• Homophone: hawk (accents with cot-caught merger)

Noun

hock (countable and uncountable, plural hocks)

1. A Rhenish wine, of a light yellow color, either sparkling or still, from the Hochheim region; often applied to all Rhenish wines.

See also

• claret, sack, tent

Etymology 2

From Middle English hoch, hough, hocke, from Old English h?h, from Proto-Germanic *hanhaz (compare West Frisian hakke, Dutch hak, German Low German Hack), from Proto-Indo-European *kenk (compare Lithuanian kìnka (“leg, thigh, knee-cap”), kenkl?? (“knee-cap”), Sanskrit ?????? (ka?k?la, “skeleton”)).

Noun

hock (plural hocks)

1. The tarsal joint of a digitigrade quadruped, such as a horse, pig or dog.
2. Meat from that part of a food animal.

Derived terms

• rattle one's hocks

Translations

Verb

hock (third-person singular simple present hocks, present participle hocking, simple past and past participle hocked)

1. (transitive) To disable by cutting the tendons of the hock; to hamstring; to hough.

Synonyms

• hamstring, hough, hox

Hypernyms

• See Thesaurus:disable

Etymology 3

From the phrase in hock, circa 1855-60, from Dutch hok (“hutch, hovel, jail, pen, doghouse”). Compare also Middle English hukken (“to sell; peddle; sell at auction”), see huck.

Verb

hock (third-person singular simple present hocks, present participle hocking, simple past and past participle hocked)

2. (transitive, colloquial) To leave with a pawnbroker as security for a loan.

Translations

Noun

hock (uncountable)

1. Pawn, obligation as collateral for a loan.

   He needed $750 to get his guitar out of hock at the pawnshop.
2. Debt.

   They were in hock to the bank for $35 million.

3. Installment purchase.
4. Prison.

Derived terms

• Hock Monday
• Hock Tuesday

References

Etymology 4

From Yiddish ????? (hak), imperative singular form of ?????? (hakn, “to knock”), from the idiomatic expression ???? ??? ???? ???? ???????? (hak mir nisht keyn tshaynik, “don't knock a teakettle at me”)

Alternative forms

• hak

Verb

hock (third-person singular simple present hocks, present participle hocking, simple past and past participle hocked)

1. (US) To bother; to pester; to annoy incessantly

Etymology 5

Variant of hack; from Middle English hacken, hakken, from Old English *haccian ("to hack"; attested in t?haccian (“to hack to pieces”)), from Proto-Germanic *hakk?n? (“to chop; hoe; hew”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“to be sharp; peg; hook; handle”).

Noun

hock (plural hocks)

1. To cough heavily, especially causing uvular frication.
   1. To cough while the vomit reflex is triggered; to gag.
   2. To produce mucus from coughing or clearing one's throat.

Derived terms

• hocker

Anagrams

• Koch