hockle

== English == === Etymology 1 === Probably from hackle, a brush once used for fraying flax, and related to heckle (“to tease”). ==== Noun ==== hockle (plural hockles) A knob in cordage caused by twisting against the lay. ==== Verb ==== hockle (third-person singular simple present hockles, present participle hockling, simple past and past participle hockled) To damage cordage by twisting against the lay. === Etymology 2 === From imperfect and past participle hockled; from present participle and verbal noun hockling. From hock. ==== Verb ==== hockle (third-person singular simple present hockles, present participle hockling, simple past and past participle hockled) (transitive) to disable by cutting the tendons of the ham. Synonyms: hamstring, hock, hough (transitive) To mow, as stubble. === Etymology 3 === Probably onomatopoeic. ==== Noun ==== hockle (uncountable) (Geordie, vulgar) spit, spittle ==== Verb ==== hockle (third-person singular simple present hockles, present participle hocklin, simple past and past participle hockled) (Geordie) To spit. === References === “hockle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC. Noah Webster (1828), “hockle”, in An American Dictionary of the English Language: […], volume I (A–I), New York, N.Y.: […] S. Converse; printed by Hezekiah Howe […], →OCLC.