Definitions For Sockdolager

Noun

SOCKDOLAGER (plural SOCKDOLAGERs) (US, slang, dated) A hard hit, a knockout or finishing blow, or conclusive argument. (US, slang, dated) Something large or otherwise exceptional; a whopper. (US, angling) A combination of two hooks which close upon each other, by means of a spring, as soon as the fish bites.

Alternative forms

{{alt, en, socdolager, sockdologer, sogdolloger}}

Derived terms

sockdologizing

See also

appendix:fanciful 19th century american coinages

Etymology

{{unk, en}}, 1827 US,America in So Many Words: Words That Have Shaped America, by David K. Barnhart, Allan A. Metcalf, “1827 sockdolager”, p. presumably fanciful variant of sock, , to hit; compare appendix:fanciful 19th century american coinages, contemporary fanciful american coinages.{{R:World Wide Words, entry=Sockdolager, url=weirdwords/ww-soc1, date_created=17 October 1998, date_updated=20 April 2006}}14 American English Abroad, Richard W. Bailey, 14.1 Introduction, pp. , in The Cambridge History of the English Language, Volume 6, 1992 Various speculative etymologies have been suggested, such as corruption of doxology, due to this occurring at the end of church worship, hence “finality”.Dictionary of Americanisms (1848), by {{w, John Russell Bartlett}}