chuck

English has two common words spelled chuck: to throw, a variant of chock, to tap under the chin, and a block or lump, also a variant of chock, which gives the cut of beef and the clamp on a lathe.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /t͡ʃʌk/^[4]

chuck¹ to throw

Etymology

It is a variant of earlier chock, to give a blow under the chin (1583),^[1][2] perhaps from Middle French choquer (“to jolt, strike against”) (see shock),^[1][2] or from its earlier form chuquer, to knock, bump, of unknown origin.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To throw or toss: 1593 in Barnhart, the 1590s in Etymonline.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

To pat playfully under the chin is from the 1610s,^[2] and a noun, such a tap, from 1611.^[1][6] A toss or throw is from 1862,^[6][2] and the dismissal of someone, to give the chuck, from 1892.^[6] To give up or abandon, chuck it in, and to throw away are informal later uses.^[7][8]

Timeline

• 1583 – chock, a blow under the chin.^[1]
• 1593 – to throw.^[1]
• 1611 – a tap under the chin (noun).^[1][6]
• 1862 – a toss.^[6]
• 1892 – the chuck, dismissal.^[6]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. (informal) To throw carelessly or casually.
2. (informal) To give up or abandon: chuck in a job.
3. (informal) To throw away; to end a relationship with.
4. To pat or tap playfully under the chin.

Noun

1. A playful touch under the chin.
2. A toss or throw.

chuck² block; cut of beef; lathe clamp

Etymology

It is a variant of chock, a block,^[1][2][3][5] and perhaps of chunk.^[1][3] The OED says chock and chuck were originally variants of the same word, now somewhat differentiated.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A chunk of wood or meat: 1674, the 1670s in Etymonline.^[1][2]

Semantic evolution

Shoulder meat, a cut of beef, is from 1723.^[1][2] A device for holding work in a lathe or drill is first recorded as chock (1703), later chuck (1807).^[1][2] American chuck wagon (1880) is from a mid-19th-century sense food, grub, generalized from the meat.^[2]

Timeline

• 1674 – a chunk.^[1]
• 1703 – a lathe chuck (as chock).^[1]
• 1723 – a cut of beef.^[1]
• 1880 – chuck wagon.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A cut of beef from the neck to the ribs.
2. A device for holding a workpiece in a lathe or a bit in a drill.
3. (US, informal) Food.

Related words

• chock
• chunk
• shock

Usage notes

Chuck is also an old term of endearment, a variant of chick (1588),^[6][9] and a clucking sound, as of a hen, from about 1386.^[6][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
9. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press