Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US, also soak away, sock down) to set aside money for savings; thus socked away adj.

1860		N.E. Police Gaz. (Boston, MA) 18 Aug. 8/1: By ‘socking down’ the dollars bright — / Our Treasury never fails.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 78: Sock,‘he socks his sugar,’ i.e., he saves his money.
1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 55: The $600 that I had soaked away produced within me a very tired feeling.
1901		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 13 Feb.1/2: The old girl had a bit ‘socked’ away like a good girl.
1907		Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) 17 Nov. 9/2: They have bounteous crops [...] and they keep socking the little old long green.
1910		Sun. Times (Perth) 3 Apr. 3rd sect. 17/4: Perth's best-known cabman, ‘Ginger,’ [...] is the Rockefeller of local jehus. ‘Ginger’ socks away the quids and lets the shickerers lose the steady jobs.
1911		S. Ford Torchy 11: I was sent out to cash five or six money orders, and soak away a bunch of checks.
1935		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 525: Once you get the money, sock it, hang on to it!
1939		E. O’Brien One Way Ticket 218: He had a few bucks socked away.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 65: I’ve got a big bankroll socked away in a vault in Chicago.
1951		Cusack & James Come in Spinner (1960) 318: I bet he’s socked a pretty packet away. No worry with the Taxation either.
1962		(con. late 19C) E. Lucia Klondike Kate 97: Kitty [...] was soon a wealthy young woman, who instead of gambling a fortune away at the wheels [...] was wisely socking it into the bank.
1971		D. Goines Dopefiend (1991) 166: The thought of the fifty thousand dollars he had soaked away.
1971		Maclean’s (Toronto) Sept. 11/2: Now they seem to believe that a buck earned is a buck to be socked away [OED].
1978		S. King Stand (1990) 73: He had socked away enough in the good years to keep them rolling.
2005		C. Ennico Small Business Survival Guide 180: You may be happy to see what you can ‘sock away’ for yourself, but may not be as happy when you realize how much you have to ‘sock away’ for your employees.
2007		N. McCall Them (2008) 75: Cornell had the presence of mind to send his substantial winnings home to his young bride [...] who promptly socked it away.

2. to obtain credit.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

3. (Aus.) to pocket.

1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 26 July 26/1: Winner on second occasion was a Scotchbyterian, who quietly ‘socked’ the quid, and remarked – ‘This is a verra precarious business, and ye hae tae be unco canny.’ Then he went along and put up whisky for the boys.
1980		Hartford Courant (CT) 11 Aug. 4/3: Grand prize: A $1,000 bill to sock away!