in hock
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In an interview with the New Statesman last year, Burnham said the government had to "get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond markets".
From BBC • May 15, 2026
The Simon & Schuster transaction will leave the publisher $1 billion in hock, ratcheting up pressure to repay the debt — and turn a profit.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 11, 2023
When the couple’s overly expensive apartment burns down and the insurance doesn’t come through, they are in hock for the mortgage and Elena must undergo a “forced donation” of 40 years at once.
From New York Times • Aug. 4, 2023
He meticulously piles up the arguments of the witch-mongers and knocks them down; charmers, soothsayers, alchemists, conjurors and occultists aren’t in hock to the devil, he says, they are charlatans.
From The Guardian • Jun. 17, 2020
No one in camp has got Silver Phil on his mind at all; at least if he has he deems him safe an' shore in hock, a-waitin' to be stretched.
From Wolfville Nights by Lewis, Alfred Henry
