Shock
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shock¹
- /ʃɒk/ UK
- /ʃɔk/ US
- /ʃɑk/ US
Sounds like shark (non-rhotic, father-bother merger) · Rhymes with -ɒk
Where it comes from
From Middle Dutch schokken (“to push, jolt, shake, jerk”) or Middle French choquer (“to collide with, clash”), from Old Dutch *skokkan (“to shake up and down, shog”), from Proto-Germanic *skukkaną (“to move, shake, tremble”). Of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Proto-Germanic *skakaną (“to shake, stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kek-, *(s)keg- (“to shake, stir”); see shake.
Cognate with Middle Low German schocken (“collide with, deliver a blow to, move back and forth”), Old High German scoc (“a jolt, swing”), Middle High German schocken (“to swing”) (German schaukeln), Old Norse skykkr (“vibration, surging motion”), Icelandic skykkjun (“tremulously”), Middle English schiggen (“to shake”). Doublet of shog.
noun shocks · choque
- A sudden, heavy impact. The train hit the buffers with a great shock.
- Something so surprising that it is stunning. My mother's news was a shock I still haven't recovered from.
- A sudden or violent emotional disturbance. Carl had a shock at what he found.
- An experience that leaves someone shaken; a very surprising, exhilarating or amazing experience. The surprising blast of cold water on my face was a tremendous shock.
- Electric shock, a sudden burst of electrical energy hitting a person or animal. We gave him a couple shocks, but the patient passed away anywway.
- The stimulation of nerves and convulsive contraction of muscles caused by electrical current flowing through a body.
- A state of distress following a mental or emotional disturbance, often caused by news or other stimuli. Fans were in shock in the days following the singer's death.
- Circulatory shock, a medical emergency characterized by the inability of the circulatory system to supply enough oxygen to meet tissue requirements. Call an ambulance, he's in shock!
- A shock wave. Several reflected shocks enter the bomb core in rapid succession, each helping to compress it to its maximum density.
- A shock absorber (typically in the suspension of a vehicle). If your truck's been riding rough, it might need new shocks.
- A discontinuity arising in the solution of a partial differential equation.
- A chemical added to a swimming pool to moderate the chlorine levels. The warehouse that caught fire contained 99% trichloroisocyanuric acid (TCCA) – used to make chlorinated tablets to control bacteria and algae – and 99% dichloroisocyanuric acid (DCCA), which is used to make swimming pool shock – a treatment used to help break down contaminants.
adjective choque
- Causing intense surprise, horror, etc.; unexpected and shocking. His shock announcement rocked the tennis world.
verb shocks · shocking · shocked · choque
- To cause to be emotionally shocked; to cause (someone) to feel greatly surprised or upset. The disaster shocked the world.
- To strike with disgust, to offend, scandalize.
- To give an electric shock to.
- To subject to a shock wave or violent impact. Ammonium nitrate can detonate if severely shocked.
- To meet with a shock; to collide in a violent encounter. They saw the moment approach when the two parties would shock together.
- To cook something very briefly in a hot liquid, then immediately submerge it in ice water to stop the cooking process. Can you shock the spinach over there?
- To add a chemical to (a swimming pool) to moderate the chlorine levels.
- To deform the crystal structure of a stone by the application of extremely high pressure at moderate temperature, as produced only by hypervelocity impact events, lightning strikes, and nuclear explosions. It takes more than two gigapascals (two billion pascals) of pressure to shock quartz in this manner (for comparison, the atmosphere at sea level exerts a little over 100,000 pascals of pressure).
shock²
- /ʃɒk/ UK
- /ʃɔk/ US
- /ʃɑk/ US
Sounds like shark (non-rhotic, father-bother merger) · Rhymes with -ɒk
Where it comes from
Inherited from Middle English schok, from Old English *sċoc or Middle Low German schok; in any case, from Proto-West Germanic *skok and possibly related to Latvian kàudze and Lithuanian kiūgis.
noun shocks · choque
- An arrangement of sheaves for drying; a stook. Cause it on shocks to be by and by set.
- A lot consisting of sixty pieces; a term applied in some Baltic ports to loose goods.
- A tuft or bunch of something, such as hair or grass. His head boasted a shock of sandy hair.
- A small dog with long shaggy hair, especially a poodle or spitz; a shaggy lapdog. When I read of witty persons, I could not figure them but like the little shock. (translating the German Spitz)
verb shocks · shocking · shocked · choque
- To collect, or make up, into a shock or shocks; to stook. to shock rye
Shock³
Where it comes from
* As an English surname, variant of Shuck.
* As a German surname, Americanized from Schock, itself a variant of Scheck, or from the sense Schock (“heap”). Compare Schoch.
proper noun Shocks
- A surname.
