HOUGH . The hough (modern spelling ‘hock’) of a quadruped is the joint between the knee and the fetlock in the hind leg; in man the back of the knee joint, called the ham. To ‘hough’ is to cut the tendon of the hough, to hamstring. The subst. occurs in 2Es 15:36 ‘the camel’s hough’ (AVm [Note: Authorized Version margin.] ‘pastern or litter’). The verb is found in Joshua 11:6; Joshua 11:9 , 2 Samuel 8:4 , 1 Chronicles 18:4 always of houghing horses. Tindale translates Genesis 49:6 ‘In their selfe-will they houghed an oxe,’ which is retained in AVm [Note: Authorized Version margin.] , and inserted into the text of RV [Note: Revised Version.] in place of ‘they digged down a wall.’