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Nock vs Em - What's the difference?

nock | em |

As a noun nock

is either of the two grooves in a bow that hold the bowstring.

As a verb nock

is to fit an arrow against the bowstring of a bow or crossbow.

As a preposition em is

around, round.

As an adverb em is

around, about.

nock

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Either of the two grooves in a bow that hold the bowstring.
  • The notch at the rear of an arrow that fits on the bowstring.
  • * Chapman
    • He took his arrow by the nock .
  • (nautical) The upper fore corner of a boom sail or trysail.

    • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To fit an arrow against the bowstring of a bow or crossbow.
  • To cut a nock in (usually in an arrow's base or the tips of a bow).

    • Anagrams

    *

    References

    em

    English

    Etymology 1

    The typographic em is named after the metal type for the capital (M) in early printing, whose body was square (the printed letter M is almost never one em in width).

    Noun

    (en noun)
    • The ems and ens at the beginnings and ends.
  • (typography) A unit of measurement equal to the height of the type in use.
    • Synonyms
    * (typography) quad, em quad * (typography) mutton, mut
    Derived terms
    * emcee * em dash

    See also

    *

    Etymology 2

    (Spivak pronouns) Coined by Christine M. Elverson by removing the "th" from (them), perhaps influenced by (term, 'em).

    Pronoun

  • (neologism) them (singular).
  • * {{quote-book
    • , date = 1986-04-01 , title = The Joy of TeX: A Gourmet Guide to Typesetting with the AMS-TeX macro package , first = Michael , last = Spivak , location = Providence , publisher = American Mathematical Society , page = 68 , isbn = 0821829998 , id = , lccn = 85007506 , url = http://books.google.com/books?id=kXzxAAAAMAAJ&q=up+to+Em+to+indicate+Eir , passage = If the author uses such notation, it should be up to Em to indicate Eir intentions clearly, but there's no harm checking first. }}
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year = 1997 , title = Doom Patrols : A Theoretical Fiction About Postmodernism , first = Steven , last = Shaviro , publisher = Serpent's Tail , location = London , isbn = 9781852424305 , lccn = 9668813 , page = 138 , passage = I may become quite intimate with someone, spend hours with em every night, and yet not have the slightest idea what eir voice sounds like, or what eir RL body looks, feels, and smells like. }}
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year = 2000 , chapter = Ethics, Plugged and Unplugged: The Pegagogy of Disorderly Conduct , first = Jane , last = Love , title = Taking flight with OWLs: Examining Electronic Writing Center Work , editors = Inman, James A.; Sewell, Donna N. , publisher = Taylor & Francis , isbn = 0805831711 , id = , page = 193 , passage = E invites em to consider how ey represent emselves(SIC), and in so doing, e focuses eir attention on the ethics that make human relations possible. , url = http://books.google.com/books?id=aFKqSzIxCLkC&pg=PA193 }}
  • * {{quote-web
    • , date = 2011-03-15 , title =
  • 89: New Friend
    • , blog = Riot Nrrd , first = RJ , last = Edwards , url = http://www.riotnrrdcomics.com/2011/03/89-new-friend/ , accessdate = 2012-10-06 , passage = And ultimately: I think my readers are mature enough that knowing eir assigned gender is not going to give them an “excuse” to misgender em . }}
    Synonyms
    * him or her, * (singular) them * (neologism) hir
    Derived terms
    * (neologism) emself

    See also

    * other gender-neutral pronouns

    Etymology 3

    Interjection

    (en interjection)
  • (Scotland, Ireland) a form of hesitant speech, or an expression of uncertainty; um; umm; erm
    • She was going to, em ... the salon, I think.

    Anagrams

    * English two-letter words English third person pronouns ----