Sockdolager
noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A hard hit, a knockout or finishing blow, or conclusive argument. US, dated, slang
"He’ll come off as badly as a feller I once hit a sledge hammer lick over the head—a real sogdolloger."
- 2 Something large or otherwise exceptional; a whopper. US, dated, slang
"Hey, Al, thought I'd call you from the locker room out here at Green Hills. Just made a sockdolager hole in one! A hole in one, Al! (etc.)"
- 3 A combination of two hooks which close upon each other, by means of a spring, as soon as the fish bites. US
Example
More examples"He’ll come off as badly as a feller I once hit a sledge hammer lick over the head—a real sogdolloger."
Etymology
Unknown, 1827 US, presumably fanciful variant of sock (“to hit”); compare contemporary fanciful American coinages. Various speculative etymologies have been suggested, such as corruption of doxology, due to this occurring at the end of church worship, hence “finality”.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.