chock
/tʃɒk
/- The chocks under the wheels of the Juggernaut of state control have been well and truly blown away this week.
- See that master ignition switches and individual ignition switches are off, set parking brakes and have the ground crew remove the wheel chocks.
- I had failed to turn off the ignition and to install chocks on the van.
- Thinking on their feet, the technicians positioned a maintenance stand with a wooden chock under the housing to hold the pump in position.
- But although she was up on chocks, her waterline didn't come any higher than my shoulder.
- Trad climbers use friends, chocks, stoppers and other passive and active gear instead.
- You heard that correct, no pitons, no chocks, no carabiners, no protection to secure the ropes in the event of a fall.
- If the car is manual transmission, chock the wheels well, remove the emergency brake, and put the car into gear - the higher the gear, the more play the car has.
- Previously, flight pay was calculated from the moment that blocks are removed from a jet's wheels right before takeoff to the point where wheels are chocked after landing at its destination.
- With the aircraft chocked by the crash crew, my instructor ran through the secure checks from memory, turned off the boost pumps and generators, and tried to secure the engines.
- We chocked the port side and gathered the crew on ICS to talk about what had happened.
- Once we were chocked, chained and out of the jet, we saw that we had lost our left shoulder panel, and only two of 34 screws had been set and tightened.
- The problem was on the port side of the airplane and the plane was not chocked and chained.
Origin
Middle English: probably from an Old Northern French variant of Old French çouche, çoche 'block, log', of unknown ultimate origin.
A chock, as in ‘chocks away!’, is a wedge or block placed against a wheel to prevent it from moving or to support it. It is probably from Old French çouche or çoche, meaning ‘block or log’. Chock-a-block (mid 19th century), ‘crammed full’, was originally a nautical expression which referred to a pair of pulley blocks with ropes threaded between to form a hoist or tackle—when they have been pulled so close together that the two blocks touch, further lifting is impossible. The expression was probably influenced by chock-full, a much older term meaning ‘filled to overflowing’. Where this comes from is uncertain, though ‘chock’ here may have been a form of choke (ME from Old English ceoce ‘jaw), from the idea of being so full that you are almost choking.