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Ahoy, mateys! Though it is now more often used by landlubbers, chockablock has a nautical history. On board a sailing vessel, chock can refer to a wedge or block that is pressed up against an object to keep it from moving (on land, wheel chocks prevent vehicles from rolling), while a block and tackle system combines pulleys, often in cases called "blocks," and rope or cable to provide mechanical advantage for hoisting and hauling. Using a block and tackle to hoist a sail on a traditional sailing ship, there’s a point when the rope or cable is pulled as far as it will go—the blocks at that point are tight together and said to be "chockablock"; they can no longer move, as if they are being checked by a chock. When non-nautical types associated the chock of chockablock with chock-full, from the Middle English adjective chokkefull, meaning "full to the limit" (likely a figurative use of "full to choking"), they gave chockablock the additional meaning "filled up." Chockablock can also be an adverb meaning "as close or as completely as possible," as in "dorms full of students living chockablock" or the seemingly redundant "chockablock full."
Synonyms
Examples of chockablock in a Sentence
Jennifer Weil, WWD, 19 Nov. 2024
Commercial Street is chockablock with shops, art galleries, restaurants, bars and prime people-watching.
—Brett Sokol, New York Times, 15 Aug. 2024
The archives are chockablock with certain-sounding predictions — frequently with an ideological subtext — that proved simply wrong.
—Neil Irwin, Axios, 24 July 2024
The dueling titans are building foundations in Hollywood that could be transformative not only for their many brands—which are chockablock with unplumbed archives—but also for the entertainment business, which knows how to tell a compelling tale.
—Christina Binkley, Robb Report, 27 Apr. 2024
The official Taylor Swift online store is chockablock with earrings, hoodies, vinyl and other merchandise promoting the star's latest record-breaking album, The Tortured Poets Department.
—Chloe Veltman, NPR, 26 Apr. 2024
Sherman works alone, in a Tribeca studio or in a converted barn on her property in East Hampton, which are now chockablock with wigs, costumes, props, and prostheses, accreted over years of rummaging.
—Chris Wiley, The New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2024
Only a handful of brands had big TikTok or Instagram influencers at their shows: Alix Earle attended Dion Lee, Danielle Bernstein and Tinx were among the crowd at Prabal Gurung, and Staud was chockablock with ring-light-haloed women posting about the vibes.
—Rachel Tashjian, Washington Post, 12 Sep. 2023
Dictionary Entries Near chockablock
Cite this Entry
“Chockablock.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chockablock. Accessed 18 Dec. 2024.
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