Hox

noun, verb

noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Abbreviation of homeobox. abbreviation, alt-of
  2. 2
    hypohalous acid uncountable
Verb
  1. 1
    To hock; to hamstring; to cripple; to disable. obsolete, transitive

    "To bide upon't: thou art not honest; or / If thou inclin'st that way, thou art a coward, / Which hoxes honesty behind, restraining / From course required."

Synonyms

All synonyms
hamstringhamstringhockhough

Example

More examples

"To bide upon't: thou art not honest; or / If thou inclin'st that way, thou art a coward, / Which hoxes honesty behind, restraining / From course required."

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English hoxen, reduction or back-formation of earlier hoxenen, from the noun *hoxene (only attested as hokschyne, with alteration after schyne), from Old English hōhsinu, from Proto-West Germanic *hą̄hasinu, from Proto-Germanic *hanhasinwō, from *hanhaz (“heel”) + *senawō (“sinew”). Compare hough, huxen, and sinew.

Related phrases

hox genehypohalous acid

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.