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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

nock.

Either of the two grooves in a bow that hold the bowstring.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/nɒk/Received-Pronunciation/nɑk/General-American
  1. Either of the two grooves in a bow that hold the bowstring.

  2. The notch at the rear of an arrow that fits on the bowstring.

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

Where this word comes from

From 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”).

verb/nɒk/Received-Pronunciation/nɑk/General-American
  1. To fit (an arrow) against the bowstring of a bow or crossbow.

    transitive
  2. To cut a nock in (usually in an arrow's base or the tips of a bow).

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From 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”).

intj/nɒk/Received-Pronunciation/nɑk/General-American
  1. Fit the arrow to your bowstring.

Where this word comes from

From 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”).

noun/nɒk/Received-Pronunciation/nɑk/General-American
  1. Misspelling of knock.

    alt-of · misspelling
verb/nɒk/Received-Pronunciation/nɑk/General-American
  1. Misspelling of knock.

    alt-of · misspelling
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.