where did term chock full come from
5 Answers 5. c.1400, chokkeful âcrammed full,â possibly from choke âcheekâ (see cheek (n.)). Or it may be from Old French choquier âcollide, crash, hitâ [similar to shock]. Middle English chokkeful already had the same meaning as modern chock-full. Both this word and choke âto strangleâ likely derive ultimately from Old English words meaning âjaw, cheek.â The end result is the same: a mouthful. Alternately, chokkeful may derive from a more violent word: forced full. (Wiktionary offers a false etymology based on the kind of chocks used in carpentry and shipbuilding: full up to the chocks, perhaps. However that sense of chock only dates to the 1670s, far too late to influence the Middle English word.)