I was very proud to be captain of archery at my school at the age of 11. I was the one who got to wear the badge, I the one whose job it was to shout 'nock' at the start of each session. This would then be succeeded by the command 'loose!' from Dr. Hill, the master in charge.

Just in the woods in which nestled the archery shed (shack? hut? these words fail to do justice to its delapidation) at my old school, Dr. Hill had put up a sign in front of the door:

Do not nock before entering.

He thought it was funny.

Nock (?), n. [See Notch.]

1.

A notch.

He took his arrow by the nock. Chapman.

2. Naut.

The upper fore corner of a boom sail or of a trysail.

 

© Webster 1913.


Nock, v. t.

To notch; to fit to the string, as an arrow; to string, as a bow.

Chapman.

 

© Webster 1913.

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