chock-full

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology | 1996 | 629 words | Copyright

chock-full (colloq.) full to the utmost. The rare ME. (XIV) forms chokkefulle, chekefull are of doubtful status because of the uncertainty of the tradition; but, if genuine, they may repr. differentiated forms of OE. ċēoce or ċēace CHEEK, according as the diphthong was rising or falling. The modern chokefull dates from XVII, chockfull from XVIII, with a var. chuckfull, which may be due to the gen. variation between CHOCK and CHUCK.
Hence prob. chock adv. (XVIII) close (up) to, and in chock-a-block (i) naut., said of a tackle with the two blocks run close together, (ii) gen., crammed close together.

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T. F. HOAD. "chock-full." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

T. F. HOAD. "chock-full." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-chockfull.html

T. F. HOAD. "chock-full." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. 1996. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O27-chockfull.html

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