Word.ws English Dictionary

sockdolager

Syllables: sock·dol·a·gerUS[ˌsɑkˈdɑːɫ.ə.d͡ʒɚ]

sockdolager noun: a hard hit, a knockout or finishing blow, or conclusive argument.

Noun

sockdolager (plural sockdolagers)

  1. (US, dated, slang) A hard hit, a knockout or finishing blow, or conclusive argument.
    • He’ll come off as badly as a feller I once hit a sledge hammer lick over the head—a real sogdolloger.1831, James Kirke Paulding, Lion of the West
    • There is but one ‘sogdollager’ in the universe, and that is in Lake Oswego.1838, James Fenimore Cooper, Home as Found
  2. (US, dated, slang) Something large or otherwise exceptional; a whopper.
    • Hey, Al, thought I'd call you from the locker room out here at Green Hills. Just made a sockdolager hole in one! A hole in one, Al! (etc.)1953, Ray Bradbury, The Murderer
  3. (US) A combination of two hooks which close upon each other, by means of a spring, as soon as the fish bites.

Forms of sockdolager

pluralsockdolagers
alternative formsocdolager
alternative formsockdologer
alternative formsogdolloger

Origin of sockdolager

Unknown, 1827 US, presumably fanciful variant of sock (“to hit”); compare contemporary fanciful American coinages. Various speculative etymologies have been suggested, such as corruption of doxology, due to this occurring at the end of church worship, hence “finality”.

Words formed from sockdolager

Questions about sockdolager

What does sockdolager mean?
Sockdolager means a hard hit, a knockout or finishing blow, or conclusive argument.
What part of speech is sockdolager?
Sockdolager is a noun.
How do you pronounce sockdolager?
Sockdolager is pronounced [ˌsɑkˈdɑːɫ.ə.d͡ʒɚ] (US).
What is the plural of sockdolager?
The plural of sockdolager is sockdolagers.

Words near sockdolager in the dictionary

  1. sockasin
  2. sockasins
  3. Sockbridge
  4. Sockbridge and Tirril
  5. Sockburn
  6. sockdolager
  7. sockdolagers
  8. sockdolagizing
  9. sockdollager
  10. sockdollagers
  11. sockdologer

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: sockdolager (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.

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