Choc a Bloc

[tony1941]

Does anyone know the origin of this strange saying, please?

[elloras]

The Oxford English Dictionary has this:
Chock-a-block (Naut.), said of a tackle with the two blocks run close together so that they touch each other--the limit of hoisting; transf., jammed or crammed close together.
"Hauling the reef-tackles chock-a-block" (Richard Henry Dana, "Two Years Before the Mast," 1840).

[mad4music]

its got to do with airplanes as well and the things they used to put under the wheels

[angelkathy]

i've always believed it means "full up" or "over-crowded"