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
Sure, Sang-hyeon, who runs a hand laundry, and cohort Dong-soo, who works at said church, could use the dough; times are tight and, on the front burner, Sang-hyeon is in hock to the local mob.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 27, 2022
But for most of them, leaving would mean breaking their contracts and leaving family members in Vietnam in hock to labor brokers and loan sharks who paid their way to Serbia, the workers say.
From New York Times • Jan. 22, 2022
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
Then if I haul the guy here and it don't work, I'm in hock to you.
From At the Post by Gold, H. L. (Horace Leonard)
