chock-full

chock-full
\ \ [14] There is more than one theory to account for this word. It occurs in a couple of isolated instances around 1400, as chokkefulle and chekeful, prompting speculation that the first element may be either chock ‘wooden block’, which came from an assumed Old Northern French *choque (thus ‘stuffed full with lumps of wood’) or cheek (thus ‘full up as far as the cheeks’). It resurfaces in the 17th century as choke-ful, which has given rise to the idea that it may originally have meant ‘so full as to choke’.
\ \ The available evidence seems too scanty to come to a firm conclusion.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Chock-full — chockfull chock full , pred. a. Quite full; full to capacity; choke full; as, chowder chock full of clams. Syn: chockablock(predicate), chockful(predicate), choke full(predicate), chuck full(predicate), cram full. [1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • chock-full — adj [not before noun] [Date: 1300 1400; Origin: Probably from CHOKE1] informal completely full of people or things chock full of ▪ The pond was chock full of weeds …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • chock-full — adjective never before noun INFORMAL very full, especially with things that are pleasant or enjoyable: chock full of: a book that s chock full of delicious recipes …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • chock-full — is now the dominant form, having triumphed over variants such as choke full and chuck full. These spelling difficulties have been aggravated by uncertainty as to the origin of the element chock, which also occurs in chock a block (with the same… …   Modern English usage

  • chock-full — ► ADJECTIVE informal ▪ filled to overflowing. ORIGIN of unknown origin; later associated with CHOCK(Cf. ↑chock) …   English terms dictionary

  • chock-full — [chäk′fool′] adj. [ME chokkeful, chekefull < choke, cheke, cheek + ful, FUL; now often assoc. with CHOCK, CHOKE] as full as possible; filled to capacity …   English World dictionary

  • chock-full — index full, replete Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • chock-full — c.1400, chokkeful crammed full, possibly from choke cheek. Or it may be from O.Fr. choquier collide, crash, hit (13c., Mod.Fr. choquer), probably from Germanic (Cf. M.Du. schokken; see SHOCK (Cf. shock) (1)) …   Etymology dictionary

  • chock-full — adj. & adv. = CHOCK A BLOCK (chock full of rubbish). Etymology: CHOCK + FULL(1): ME chokkefulle (rel. to CHOKE(1)) is doubtful …   Useful english dictionary

  • chock-full — [[t]tʃɒ̱k f ʊl[/t]] ADJ: v link ADJ, usu ADJ of n Something that is chock full is completely full. [INFORMAL] The 32 page catalog is chock full of things that add fun to festive occasions. Syn: bursting …   English dictionary

  • chock-full — UK / US adjective [never before noun] informal very full, especially with things that are pleasant or enjoyable chock full of: a book that s chock full of delicious recipes …   English dictionary

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