Also choke. [Partly f. CHOCK sb. and v.1; but largely deduced from CHOCK-FULL.]
1. As close or tight as can be; so as to press ‘dead’ against, stop ‘dead,’ etc.
1834. Sir H. Taylor, Artevelde, II. III. i. I drew a shaft Chock to the steel, and … Aimed it at Serjeant Laubscher’s heart.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxvii. 361. A newly-broken team-dog … carried one of the runners chock against the edge of the circle.
1860. J. Kennedy, Swallow B., xiv. 134. It is the big wheel stopped as chock as a tombstone.
1880. Mrs. Whitney, Odd or Even, xiii. 103. Seized up a great stone, and crowded it chock against the grinding, slipping wheel.
b. with adverbs, as chock-aft, -home, -tight, -up.
1799. J. M., in Naval Chron., II. 71. The small block is chock up to the truck.
1834. M. Scott, Cruise Midge (1863), 13. Irresolute whether to run it choke up or haul it down again.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xvii. 46. We … ran her chock up to the yard. Ibid., xxv. 83. The seas … washing chock aft to the taffrail.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. xiv. Drawn chock-tight round his neck.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Chock-aft, Chock-full, Chock-home, Chock-up, &c. Denote as far aft, full, home, up, &c., as possible, or that which fits closely to one another.
c. Chock-a-block (Naut.), said of a tackle with the two blocks run close together so that they touch each other—the limit of hoisting; transf. jammed or crammed close together.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxv. 82. Hauling the reef-tackles chock-a-block.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Chock-a-block, or Chock and Block. Is the same with block-a-block and two-blocks.
1881. W. C. Russell, Sailor’s Sweeth., II. ii. 122. They … hoisted it chock a block.
1885. H. O. Forbes, Nat. Wand. E. Archip., III. viii. 259. Sideways, lengthwise, crossways, choke-a-block, as if the river had swept away a village or two and stranded them there anyhow.
