Forms: 4–6 soket, 5–6 sokett(e, 6 sokkat, sowket; 6 sockat, -itte, 6–7 -ett(e, 7 soacket, socquet, 6– socket. [a. AF. soket, dim. of soc ploughshare, SOCK sb.2]
† 1. A lance- or spear-head having a form resembling that of a ploughshare. Obs.
[a. 1260. Matth. Paris, Chron. Majora (Rolls), V. 319. Ferrum remansit in vulnere; quod tamen excisum … inventum est in mucrone acutissimum instar pugionis,… et brevem formam habens vomeris, unde vulgariter vomerulus vocatur, Gallice soket.]
13[?]. K. Alis., 4415 (Laud MS.). He took in honde a rede pensel Wiþ a soket of broun stel.
c. 1330. Arth. & Merl., 7189 (Kölbing). Gaheriet mett þe douke Fannel Wiþ a launce, þe soket of stiel.
c. 1430. Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 9645. His tronchon stikked fast With the soket in mid the shelde.
1502. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., II. 352. To Henry, lorymar, for sockatis and dyamandis to the speris, xiiij s.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 687. Than with the speir … He hit the king richt in at the e, The scharpe sokkal syne throw his heid is gone.
2. A hollow part or piece, usually of a cylindrical form, constructed to receive some part or thing fitting into it.
1448. in Archæol. Jrnl., LI. 121. Item .j. soket argenteum deauratum pro cruce argentea. Ibid., 122. .j. parvum soket.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 167 b/1. Another pyece wherin the sokette or morteys was maad that the body of the crosse stood in.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 21. A wedynge-hoke with a socket set vpon a lyttel staffe of a yarde longe.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., III. iii. 73 b. A socket of siluer & guilt…, within the top of which socket they set … plumes of feathers.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 567. Into the Socket of that Iron is put a Staffe.
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. II. 97. This Iron is fastned by a Socket to a Pole about 14 or 15 Foot long.
1748. Anson’s Voy., III. v. 341. The heel of the yard is always lodged in one of the sockets.
1820. Scoresby, Acc. Arctic Reg., II. 223. The harpoon … consists of three conjoined parts, called the ‘socket,’ ‘shank,’ and ‘mouth.’
1840. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., III. 349/1. The paddle-beams … pass the sides of the vessel through what may be called sockets.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 354. The camera is fitted with … sockets for use on a tripod.
fig. 1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc. (1590), 13. A vaine of lauish iangling, that hath made thy palate rise out of socket.
1601. Dent, Pathw. Heaven, 52. The most part [of men] run beyond their bounds, and leape quite out of their sockets.
b. techn. (See quots.)
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 229. Socket. The innermost end of a shot hole not blown away after firing.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl. 827/1. Socket. A tool used in well boring to recover and lift rods out of the well.
3. The part of a candlestick or chandelier in which the candle is placed.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 463/1. Soket, of a candylstykke or oþer lyke, alorica.
1477–9. Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905), 81. Payd to Thomas Goldsmyth for the mendyng of … the soket of a siluer candilstike.
1537. N. Co. Wills (Surtees), 146. iiij candelstickes with double sowkettes.
1552. Huloet, s.v. Candle beame, Sockettes to set candels vpon.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 31. Take a small Waxe Candle, and putt it in a Socket, of Brasse, or Iron.
a. 1701. Maundrell, Journ. Jerus. (1732), 27. A small lighted wax Taper, a hole in the Cake serving for a Socket.
1760–2. Goldsm., Cit. W., xlvi. The candles were burnt to the socket.
1832. Brewster, Nat. Magic, xiii. 325. The candle was burned out in the socket of the candlestick, which stood by her.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xv. III. 521. From dawn till the candles had burned down to their sockets the ranks kept unbroken order.
b. fig. or in fig. context.
1589. Pappe w. Hatchet (1844), 36. With a wit worn into the socket, twinkling and pinking like the snuffe of a candle.
1633. Ld. Brooke, Cælica, lxxxvii. 235. When as mans life … In soacket of his earthly lanthorne burnes.
1655. Nicholas P. (Camden), II. 323. My smale talent, being now burnt downe to the very socquet.
1756. Pol. Ballads (1860), II. 331. In thy arms let me die, And my glory burn clear in the socket.
1827. Scott, Chron. Canongate, i. The light of life … was trembling in the socket.
1862. Goulburn, Pers. Relig., IV. xii. (1873), 354. Love began to burn a little low in the socket.
Comb. 1593. G. Harvey, Pierce’s Super., Wks. (Grosart), II. 119. His socket-worne inuention.
4. † a. In allusive use. Obs.
c. 1450. Mankind, 140, in Macro Plays. Yf ȝe wyll putt yowur nose in hys wyffis sokett, Ȝe xall haue xlty days of pardon.
1638. Brathwait, Barnabees Jrnl., III. (1818), 109.
| Having boldly thus adventur’d, | |
| And my Sara’s socket enter’d. |
b. = Socket-money (see 7 c).
1818. R. Jamieson, in Burt’s Lett., I. 194, note. [If they happen to see any kind of freedom between them,… they … demand the bulling-siller.] This tax in England is called socket.
1889. W. Marcroft, Ups & Downs, 10. At the same stir it was arranged for the footings and sockets to come in.
5. Anat. A hollow or cavity in which some part or articulation (as a tooth, eye, bone, etc.) is inserted.
(a) 1601. Holland, Pliny, XXV. xiii. I. 239. Both of them … serve in a collution to strengthen and keepe them [teeth] fast in their sockets.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Teeth, In Men, the ordinary Number of Teeth is 32,… all fix’d in peculiar Sockets.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VI. 212. Its root enters into the socket above a foot and an half. In a skull … at Hamburgh there are two teeth.
1859. J. Tomes, Dental Surg., 4. The sockets for the first temporary molars.
(b) 1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 546. The Membrane of their eye is very hard, and beside they stand deepe in their sockets.
1668. Culpepper & Cole, Barthol. Anat., IV. vi. 341. To constitute the upper part of the Eye-hole or Socket.
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, VII. iii. Fixed in mute wonder,… her eyes almost bursting from their sockets.
1843. Abdy, Water Cure, 26. The eyes deep in the socket and feeble.
1890. W. P. Ball, Are Effects of Use & Disuse inherited? 72. In one species of ant … the sockets have disappeared as well as the eyes.
(c) 1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 27. Below the eyes was two crook’d horns, which … was fasten’d in two sockets at the roots.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), V. 20. The quill thus deprived continues in its socket for some months.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. xxxiii. 384. The socket … in which the leg is planted.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., v. His arms being nearly pulled out of their sockets.
1882. Pitman, Mission Life Greece & Pal., 212. The little knob on the end of the hip-bone, which works in a socket in the corresponding bone.
6. Applied to parts of plants.
1657. S. Purchas, Pol. Flying-Ins., 68. Bees gather of all things that have flowers in a hose or socket.
1713. Warder, True Amazons (ed. 2), 16. Many of them [flowers] being kept in their Socket a long time, that should have blown.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 160. They, being grown thick and strong, open the socket of the said outward leaf.
1868. U. S. Rep. Comm. Agric. (1869), 262. The atocha grass … is not cut like ordinary grass, but is pulled up from its socket.
7. attrib. and Comb. a. Attrib. in sense 1, as socket-bar, -bit, -castor, -chisel, etc.
Many examples of this type occur in recent technical use, and are recorded in special dictionaries.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 229. *Socket Bar. See Beche [a hollow conical-headed iron rod for extricating boring rods from bore holes].
1532. Lett. & P. Hen. VIII., V. 447. A ground auger made with a *socket bit steeled.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Socket-castor, a metal castor which moves in a socket.
1679. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., VII. 123. *Socket Chissels … have their Shank made with an hollow Socket at its top.
1842. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Socket Chisel, a strong tool used by carpenters for mortising, and worked with a mallet.
1895. Model Steam Eng., 38. The *socket end of the rod must have a screw formed on it.
1858. Greener, Gunnery, 401. The price paid for the *socket joint alone.
1895. Arnold & Sons’ Catal. Surg. Instrum., 789. *Socket Leg, for amputation above knee, with wooden socket.
1869. Rankine, Machine & Hand-tools, Pl. O 3, The bearing plate of the jointed *socket-piece.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Socket-pipe, a pipe worked in a socket.
1847. Webster, *Socket-pole, a pole armed with an iron socket, and used to propel boats, &c.
1893. Spons’ Mechanics’ Own Book (ed. 4), 80. The stems and handles of *socket spanners are made … separate from the socket portions.
1887. J. R. Allen, Early Chr. Symbolism, 134. The head and part of the shaft … have been re-erected in the old *socket-stone.
1869. Rankine, Machine & Hand-tools, Pl. N 1, The longitudinal liberty of the spindle … in its *socket tube.
b. In sense 5, as socket-leaf, -leaved.
c. 1711. Petiver, Gazophyl., ix. § 85. Its Stalks red-spotted and socket-leaved. Ibid., § 86. Yellow Cape Dragon-Orchis, with broad, pointed Socket-leaves.
c. Socket-money. (See quots. and 3 b.) slang.
a. 1700. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Socket-money, Demanded and Spent upon Marriage.
1772. T. Brydges, Homer Trav., 127. We must likewise come upon ye, By way of costs, for socket-money.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulgar T., Socket money, a whore’s fee, or hire, also money paid for a treat, by a married man caught in an intrigue.
1864. Slang Dict., 240. Socket-money, money extorted by threats of exposure.
Hence Socketful; Socketless a.
1833. Fraser’s Mag., VII. 720/1. The eyes have long been rayless, socketless.
1867. Gilfillan, Night, III. 53. A socketless and fiercely blazing eye.
1872. B. Stewart, Physics, 30. Water exactly equal in bulk to the brass cylinder (that is to say, a socketful).
Socket, variant of SUCKET.
