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An instrument for indicating and recording shocks to railway cars occasioned by sudden stopping.

t to quicken and go From a sparkle sprungen amiss, Till a city brent up is. Chaucer. The shock was sufficiently strong to strike out some sparkles of his fiery temper. Prescott.

A disease of horses characterized by a bony swelling developed on the hock as the result of inflammation of the bones; also, the swelling itself. The resulting lameness is due to the inflammation, and not the bony tumor as popularly supposed. Harbaugh. Bog spavin, a soft swelling produced by distention of the capsular…

A sudden fall of a heavy, soft body; also, a shock of soft bodies. Arbuthnot. My fall was stopped by a terrible squash. Swift.

To cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock. Whosoever will read the story of this war will find himself much stagered. Howell. Grants to the house of Russell were so enormous, as not only to outrage economy, but even to stagger credibility. Burke.

A sudden motion or shock caused by an unexpected alarm, surprise, or apprehension of danger. After having recovered from my first startle, I was very well pleased with the accident. Spectator.

The joint next above the hock, and near the flank, in the hind leg of the horse and allied animals; the joint corresponding to the knee in man; -- called also stifle joint. See Illust. under Horse. Stifle bone, a small bone at the stifle joint; the patella, or kneepan.

A small collection of sheaves set up in the field; a shock; in England, twelve sheaves.

Proceeding from violent agitation or fury; as, a stormy sound; stormy shocks.

leg of a horse, or an involuntary or convulsive contraction of the muscles that raise the hock. [Written also springhalt.]

Of or pertaining to the hock of a beast. [Obs.]

or use in heavy surf. It is built with a pronounced sheer, and with a view to resist the shock of waves and of contact with the beach.

A seismic movement or shock far from the recording instrument. -- Tel`e*seis"mic (#), a.

To alarm or shock with fear; to frighten. When ye shall hear of wars . . . be not terrified. Luke xxi. 9.

An instrument from tetanizing a muscle by irritating its nerve by successive mechanical shocks.

a state of continued vibratory contraction, as when stimulated by a series of induction shocks.

A disease of the hock (sometimes of the knee) of a horse, caused by inflammation of the synovial membrane and a consequent excessive secretion of the synovial fluid; -- probably so called because there is usually an oval swelling on each side of the leg, appearing somewhat as if a pin had been thrust through.…

Twenty-four (in some places, twelve) sheaves of wheat; a shock, or stook. [Prov. Eng.]

and allied genera. They are related to the rays, but have the power of giving electrical shocks. Called also crampfish, and numbfish. See Electrical fish, under Electrical.

the trailing wheels of a locomotive engine, and so placed as to assist in deadening any shock which may occur. Weale. -- Trailing wheel, a hind wheel of a locomotive when it is not a driving wheel; also, one of the hind wheels of a carriage.