"to huck" = "bother, harass verbally"?

[Susan Frank]

I've been a lurker here for a while, and haven't dared insert my entirely
amateur opinions, but I think I know this one!

Would your friend have any Yiddish speakers in their/his/her(!) background?
My family used "hock" in this way (e.g., after someone's been nagging you
about something, you'd say, "Stop hocking at me!), and this seems to me to
be a good explanation for it:

http://yiddishwordsoftheweek.wordpress.com/tag/hock/

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>
> Date:    Sun, 25 Aug 2013 11:39:09 -0400
> From:    "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject: Q: "to huck" = "bother, harass verbally"?
>
> A friend whom I might describe as a North Cantabrigian (that is, of
> Massachusetts) has (but I'm sure uses infrequently) the verb "huck"
> to mean "bother or harass verbally".  Can anyone support or expand on this?
>
> The OED has "huck, v." as "To higgle in trading; to haggle over a
> bargain; to chaffer, bargain. Also fig. To haggle over terms, to stickle."
>
> Looking at "chaffer, v.", I see that it evolved into "3. transf. and
> fig. (from 1, 2). To deal, bargain, haggle, discuss terms, bandy words."
>
> If "huck" = "chaffer" and "chaffer came to mean "bandy words", I can
> imagine "huck" also evolving into "bother verbally".
>
> Joel
>

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