subs. (old cant).—1. A pocket: ‘Not a rag in my sock’ = penniless (B. E.).
2. (Eton College).—Edibles of any kind: spec. dainties, TUCK (q.v.). As verb. = (1) to eat outside regular meals; (2) = TO TREAT (q.v.); whence (3) = to give.
c. 1550. MACHYN, Diary [Camden Society] [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 534. The substantive SUCKETT appears for dainty … hence, perhaps, the SOCK so dear to Etonians].
1881. PASCOE, ed. Everyday Life in Our Public Schools. The consumption of ‘SOCK,’ too, in school was considerable, and on occasion very conspicuous.
1883. J. BRINSLEY RICHARDS, Seven Years at Eton, v. We Eton fellows, great and small, ‘SOCKED’ prodigiously.
1889. C. T. BUCKLAND, Eton, Fifty Years Ago [Macmillan’s Magazine, lxi. Nov., 65]. ‘My governor has SOCKED me a book.’… A boy has also been heard to ask another ‘TO SOCK him a construe of his lesson.’
3. (common).—Credit; JAWBONE (q.v.): also as verb. = (1) to get credit, and 2 (American) = to pay: also TO SOCK DOWN.
4. (common).—An overgrown baby [Encyclopædic Dictionary].
5. (old).—A comedy. [The SOCK, an ancient ensign of Comedy; the BUSKIN = Tragedy.] Whence SOCK-AND-BUSKIN = (1) THE PROFESSION (q.v.).
1500. SPENSER, Tears of the Muses, 176.
| Where be the sweete delights of learnings treasure | |
| That wont with Comick SOCK to beautefie | |
| The painted Theaters. |
1637. MILTON, L’Allegro, 131.
| Then to the well-trod stage anon, | |
| If Jonson’s learned SOCK be on. |
1809. MALKIN, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 107. The gentlemen of THE SOCK AND BUSKIN are not on the best possible terms with the church. Ibid., 190. My kindred of THE SOCK AND BUSKIN. Ibid., 249. I knew perfectly that my sister of THE SOCK AND BUSKIN had entrapped this nobleman.
1817. BYRON, Beppo, xxxi.
| He was a critic upon operas, too, | |
| And knew all niceties of THE SOCK AND BUSKIN. |
Verb. (old).—1. To beat; to drub (B. E.); to press hardly: also as subs.: e.g., ‘SOCK IT him’ or ‘Give him SOCK (or SOCKS)’ = ‘Pitch into him, dress him down.’ Whence SOCKER = a heavy blow. Also 2 (American) = to smash a hat over head and ears, TO BONNET (q.v.). [Cf. (provincial) SOCK = to strike hard.]
1890. KIPLING, Oonts.
| We SOCKS ’im with a stretcher-pole, an’ ’eads ’im off in front. | |
| Ibid., Cells. | |
| Mad drunk and resisting the Guard— | |
| ’Strewth, but I SOCKED it them hard! |
1897. MARSHALL, Pomes, 87. He SOCK’D her in the eye at times, and stars she’d often view.
1898. Illustrated Bits, Xmas No., 50. Then Maudie … jumps across the floor, And ketches me a … rousin’ SOCKER on the jore.
1903. Daily Telegraph, 19 Jan. ‘Police Report.’ Then, said the witness, occurred the most dreadful SOCKING he had ever seen in the course of a long experience of street rows. It was literally a case of ‘fur and feathers flying’—the hair was torn … in handfuls from the scalp.
2. (Winchester).—To hit hard: spec. at cricket. Also to defeat.
3. (old).—To sew up.
1584. R. SCOT, Discovery of Witchcraft [Notes and Queries, 6 S., xi. 268]. Needels wherewith dead bodies are sowne or SOCKT into their sheets.
1604. MIDDLETON, The Witch, i. 2.
| As the same needle thrust into their pillows | |
| That sews and SOCKS up dead men in their sheets. |
