Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A conclusive blow or remark.
- noun Something outstanding.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Slang, U.S. That which finishes or ends a matter; a settler; a poser, as a heavy blow, a conclusive answer, and the like.
- noun (Angling), United States A combination of two hooks which close upon each other, by means of a spring, as soon as the fish bites.
- noun Slang, U. S. Something unusually large.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a hard
hit , aknockout or finishing blow - noun something exceptional
- noun US, fishing A combination of two
hooks which close upon each other, by means of aspring , as soon as thefish bites .
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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A "sockdolager" is something that settles a matter, as with a decisive blow; it also means something that is extraordinary.
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Selya loves ten-cent words (Law Blog, adjusting for inflation, calls them five-dollar words), and has managed to work doozies like philotheoparoptesism, repastinate, sockdolager, and thaumaturgical, among others, into his opinions.
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This sockdolager of a word has an unusual claim to fame in the US history.
The missing booms: the best laid schemes o’ government an’ men… 2010
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Selya loves ten-cent words (Law Blog, adjusting for inflation, calls them five-dollar words), and has managed to work doozies like philotheoparoptesism, repastinate, sockdolager, and thaumaturgical, among others, into his opinions.
Archive 2008-02-01 2008
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Selya loves ten-cent words (Law Blog, adjusting for inflation, calls them five-dollar words), and has managed to work doozies like philotheoparoptesism, repastinate, sockdolager, and thaumaturgical, among others, into his opinions.
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H-WHACK! — bum! bum! bumble-umble-um-bum-bum-bum-bum — and the thunder would go rumbling and grumbling away, and quit — and then RIP comes another flash and another sockdolager.
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Sockdolager originally meant just a strong blow, like i-- ` That was a sockdolager of a punch you landed on me, 'or,
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Now the author of that particular play was an Englishman and he knew that sockdolager was an
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Well, that was quite a sockdolager for Pat, but Pat was was a very resourceful Gael, and he looked at this fellow very suspiciously, and he says, You ask me where it is?
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I'd land you a sockdolager on the muzzle that ud lay you out till
The Magic Pudding Being the Adventures of Bunyip Bluegum and His Friends Bill Barnacle & Sam Sawnoff Norman Lindsay 1924
arby commented on the word sockdolager
VARIANT FORMS: also sock·dol·o·ger
NOUN: Slang 1. A conclusive blow or remark. 2. Something outstanding.
ETYMOLOGY: Origin unknown.
March 28, 2007
austinwords commented on the word sockdolager
several other definitions include:
1. a decisive or conclusive reply in an argument or debate, as one that settles a matter, like when your Mom says, "Case closed!"
2. a combination of two hooks that close on each other when a fish bites the hook.
3. any unusually large object.
February 5, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word sockdolager
Is this related to "sockdologizing old man-trap" as in the play "Our American Cousin"?
February 5, 2008
john commented on the word sockdolager
Hey, c_b, you're back from your Wordie holiday. Good to see you again :-)
February 5, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word sockdolager
Oh dude, I am so pissed off at being kept away from Wordie!! *pouts*
February 5, 2008
reesetee commented on the word sockdolager
A few Wordies were arranging a search party, c_b.
February 5, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word sockdolager
Well, that's just tits.
(Note: See vitamin h. Thanks adoarns!)
February 5, 2008
jennarenn commented on the word sockdolager
I love that you love that expression. Almost makes me wish I could carry it off.
February 5, 2008
reesetee commented on the word sockdolager
Oh, but I'm sure you can, jennarenn, here in Wordieville. :-)
February 5, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word sockdolager
cf doxology
June 19, 2008
fbharjo commented on the word sockdolager
sockdolager rapids word in motion
January 30, 2009
jmjarmstrong commented on the word sockdolager
M notes it was difficult to have the sockdolager but when it happened, it happened
February 1, 2009
dontcry commented on the word sockdolager
What happened to J, M?
February 2, 2009
zander commented on the word sockdolager
Answers.com sez:Origin: 1827
Entering the vocabulary by at least 1827, sockdolager was already well enough established in American slang to be included in a glossary published in the Virginia Literary Museum on January 6, 1830: "'sockdolager,' 'a decisive blow'--one, in the slang language, 'capable of setting a man thinking.'" It also could mean something or someone big. "There is but one 'sogdollager' in the universe," James Fenimore Cooper wrote in 1838, "and that is in Lake Oswego."
Sockdolager was just one of the outrageous ten-dollar words coined early in the nineteenth century that sprang from the exuberance of the expanding new country. Others were absquatulate for "depart," callithumpian for "a noisy parade," hornswoggle for "cheat," and other s-words like slumgullion for "something disgusting," snollygoster for "a political jobseeker," and slangwhanger for "a partisan speechmaker," as well as skedaddle and SHINDIG (1857), which both survive today.
On April 14, 1865, sockdolager was a key word in a tragic moment of American history. The Englishman Tom Taylor used it in his comedy, Our American Cousin, to Americanize the play's hero when he spoke the line that got the most laughs: "Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, you sockdologizing old man-trap." As the audience roared, John Wilkes Booth pulled the trigger. Those were the last words President Abraham Lincoln ever heard.
August 2, 2009
hisfurrymajestythefirst commented on the word sockdolager
Sockdolager would have to be a humorous corruption of DOXOLOGY, one meaning of which refers to an expression which forms the final statement in a Christian prayer, such as "glory be to the father, and to the son . . ", or "as it was in the beginning, is now . . " etc. So, it means 'the last word', the words after which no more words are said and by extension, the conclusive deed.
February 3, 2016