sock hop
sock hop noun: in the 1950s, informal sponsored dance at American high schools, typically held on the grounds of the high school itself in the gymnasium or cafeteria.
Noun
sock hop (plural sock hops)
- In the 1950s, informal sponsored dance at American high schools, typically held on the grounds of the high school itself in the gymnasium or cafeteria.
- But unlike any other nostalgia film, American Graffiti has been able to supply the details and step quickly beyond them—after the opening scenes, they're just assumed pieces of background. The words are there […] and the staging of a sock hop in the gym is virtually flawless, but they are part of a...1973 October, Joseph Kanon, “On the Strip”, in The Atlantic
- I had no idea then how boys wooed girls. I guessed it was a matter of joshing and shared nothings and hours of scuffing through autumn leaves and even more hours of clenches during the slow numbers at the sock hop.2005 June 13, Edmund White, “My Women”, in New Yorker
Forms of sock hop
| plural | sock hops |
|---|---|
| alternative form | sockhop |
| alternative form | sock-hop |
Origin of sock hop
Because dancers were required to remove their shoes to protect the varnished floor of the gymnasium.
Questions about sock hop
- What does sock hop mean?
- Sock hop means in the 1950s, informal sponsored dance at American high schools, typically held on the grounds of the high school itself in the gymnasium or cafeteria.
- What part of speech is sock hop?
- Sock hop is a noun.
- What is the plural of sock hop?
- The plural of sock hop is sock hops.
Words near sock hop in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sock hop (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “sock hop.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sock_hop. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.