Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Socialism \Socialism\, n.

   {Socialism of the chair} [G. katheder socialismus], a term
      applied about 1872, at first in ridicule, to a group of
      German political economists who advocated state aid for
      the betterment of the working classes. Sock \Sock\, v. t.
   [Perh. shortened fr. sockdolager.]
   To hurl, drive, or strike violently; -- often with it as an
   object. [Prov. or Vulgar] --Kipling.