nock

• IPA^(key): /ˈnɒk/

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• Rhymes: -ɒk

Middle English nokke, attested since the 14th century, probably from a Scandinavian/North Germanic language (compare Swedish nock (“notch”), but compare Dutch nok, from Middle Dutch nocke (“tip, point”). Both could be related to nook (“corner, recess”).[1]

nock (plural nocks)

1. Either of the two grooves in a bow that hold the bowstring.
2. (archery) The notch at the rear of an arrow that fits on the bowstring.
   • [1611?], Homer, “(please specify |book=I to XXIV)”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volumes (please specify the book number), London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC:

     He took his arrow by the nock.

     The spelling has been modernized.

3. (nautical) The upper fore corner of a boom sail or trysail.

nock (third-person singular simple present nocks, present participle nocking, simple past and past participle nocked)

1. (transitive) To fit an arrow against the bowstring of a bow or crossbow. (See also notch (verb).)
2. (transitive) To cut a nock in (usually in an arrow's base or the tips of a bow).

nock (plural nocks)

1. Misspelling of knock.

• Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

• conk