sockdolagern.
/sɒkˈdɒlədʒə/ U.S. slang.
1. A heavy or knock-down blow; a finisher. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > impact > striking > striking with specific degree of force > [noun] > a severe blow > a knock-down blow
recumbentibusc1425
knocker1674
knock-down1809
sockdolager1830
purler1850
grounder1889
1830 Virginia Lit. Museum 6 Jan. 479 Sockdologer, a decisive blow.
1836 T. C. Haliburton Clockmaker 1st Ser. i. xl I'll give you a sockdologer in the ear with my foot.
1838 T. C. Haliburton Clockmaker 2nd Ser. ii. xix I felt my fingers itch to give him a slock-dolager under the ear.
1859 in J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 2) 425 I gave the fellow a socdolager over his head with the barrel of my gun.
1892 A. C. Gunter Miss Dividends (1893) 36 ‘Yes,—I—reckon it will be a—sockdolager!’ mutters her father's friend.
2. A form of fish-hook (see quot. 1848).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fishing-tackle > hook > [noun] > other types of hook
pin-hook1755
Kirby1804
Limerick1810
sneck-bend1816
Limerick1835
sniggle1837
Aberdeen1845
Aberdeen hook1846
sockdolager1848
Sproat bend1867
squid-jigger1875
Sproat1876
squid jig1883
snag-hook1936
1848 J. R. Bartlett Dict. Americanisms Socdolager, a patent fish~hook, having two hooks which close upon each other by means of a spring as soon as the fish bites.
3. Something exceptional in any respect, esp. a large fish.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > [noun] > large
sockdolager1838
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > excellence > [noun] > excellent thing
starOE
dainty1340
daisyc1485
say-piece1535
bravery1583
paragon1585
daint1633
rapper1653
supernaculum1704
dandy1785
roarer1813
sneezer1823
plum1825
trimmer1827
sockdolager1838
rasper1844
dinger1861
job1863
fizzer1866
champagne1880
beauty1882
pie1884
twanger1889
smasher1894
crackerjack1895
Taj Mahal1895
beaut1896
pearler1901
lollapalooza1904
bearcat1909
beaner1911
grande dame1915
Rolls-Royce1916
the nuts1917
pipperoo1939
rubydazzler1941
rumpty1941
rumptydooler1941
snodger1941
sockeroo1942
sweetheart1942
zinger1955
blue-chipper1957
ring-a-ding1959
premier cru1965
sharpie1970
stormer1978
the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > high or intense degree > [noun] > quality or fact of being extreme > something exceedingly great in degree > and therefore causing astonishment
sockdolager1838
firecracker1845
doozy1916
doozer1930
1838 J. F. Cooper Home as Found II. xix. 270 There is but one ‘sogdollager’ in the world, and he is in this lake.
1842 Knickerbocker 19 223 This seemed to be a ‘socdoliger’ (which translated into Latin, means a ne plus ultra).
1869 J. R. Lowell To Mr. J. Bartlett 5 Fit for..The Pope himself to see in dream Before his lenten vision gleam, He lies there, the sogdologer.
1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xx. 169 The thunder would go rumbling and grumbling away,..and then rip comes another flash and another sockdolager.
1894 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Feb. 229 The pleasant remembrance of the capture of a real socdologer.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1913; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1830