I'm curious about the origins of the word "chuck" to mean "throw," as in:
Billy chucked a snowball at the bus.
The Online Etymology Dictionary gives me this:
"to throw," 1590s, variant of chock "give a blow under the chin" (1580s), possibly from French choquer "to shock, strike against," imitative (see shock (n.1)). Related: Chucked; chucking.
I'm familiar with "chuck one's chin", but can only guess how the word for that concept made the leap to throwing something, though apparently it did so quite quickly (1580s –> 1590s).
However, dictionaries are not in accord on the etymology of "chuck" meaning "throw." Merriam-Webster tells me:
origin unknown; 15th century
Dictionary.com says:
1575-1585; origin uncertain
Interesting to note the entry for the noun form in Online Etymology Dictionary:
"slight blow under the chin," 1610s, from chuck (v.1). Meaning "a toss, a throw" is from 1862. Related: Chucked; chucking.
So, I'm led to believe that the verb use for the affectionate chin-blow preceded the noun use by 30 or 40 years, but that the verb use for the "throw" meaning wasn't followed by a noun use until 270 years later.
Q. Can anyone give me a more authoritative / complete / certain explanation of this word's history? Does anyone have examples of "chuck" meaning "throw" from the 15th or 16th centuries?
Best Answer
The Oxford dictionary of word orgins supplies:
The OED supplies one usage from L16th:
1593 Prodigal Son iv. 112 Yes, this old one will I give you (Chucks him old hose and doublet).
This example cited in many books, including Slang and its analogues past and present.
The text of the play is found in: The school of Shakspeare (1878).
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Etymology says:
Wheat's An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language (1898) has an entry for chuck and states that the word is a doublet of 'shock', which also comes from Old French choquer. But I didn't find any uses in the OED of 'shock' to mean 'chuck/throw'.
Klein's A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language (1971), p 286 notes:
chuck
tr verb, to throw--From earlier chock, from French choquer, 'to shock', which is probably borrowed from Dutch schokken, a word of imitative origin. Compare shock, 'to collide'.
and
An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English (1921) says:
chuck. To throw. Earlier chock. F. choquer, of doubtful origin. Earliest E. sense is connected with chin.