Hook
Hook (hok; 277) , noun
[Old English hok, Anglo-Saxon hōc; compare Dutch haak, German hake, haken, Old High German hāko, hāgo, hāggo, Icelandic haki, Swedish hake, Danish hage. Compare Arquebuse, Hagbut, Hake, Hatch a half door, Heckle.]
1.
A piece of metal, or other hard material, formed or bent into a curve or at an angle, for catching, holding, or sustaining anything; as, a hook for catching fish; a hook for fastening a gate; a boat hook, etc.
2.
That part of a hinge which is fixed to a post, and on which a door or gate hangs and turns.
3.
An implement for cutting grass or grain; a sickle; an instrument for cutting or lopping; a billhook.
Like slashing Bentley with his desperate hook.
5.
A snare; a trap. [Rare] — Shakespeare
6.
A field sown two years in succession. [Provincial English]
7.
The projecting points of the thigh bones of cattle; -- called also hook bones.
8.
(Geography) A spit or narrow cape of sand or gravel turned landward at the outer end; as, Sandy Hook in New Jersey.
9.
(Sports) The curving motion of a ball, as in bowling or baseball, curving away from the hand which threw the ball; in golf, a curving motion in the direction of the golfer who struck the ball.
10.
(Computers) A procedure within the encoding of a computer program which allows the user to modify the program so as to import data from or export data to other programs.
Collocations (14)
By hook or by crook , one way or other; by any means, direct or indirect. — Spenser In hope her to attain by hook or crook.
Off the hook , freed from some obligation or difficulty; as, to get off the hook by getting someone else to do the job. [Colloquial]
Off the hooks , unhinged; disturbed; disordered. [Colloquial] In the evening, by water, to the Duke of Albemarle, whom I found mightly off the hooks that the ships are not gone out of the river.
On one's own hook , on one's own account or responsibility; by one's self. [Colloquial United States] — Bartlett
To go off the hooks , to die. [Colloquial] — Thackeray
Bid hook , a small boat hook.
Chain hook , See under Chain.
Deck hook , a horizontal knee or frame, in the bow of a ship, on which the forward part of the deck rests.
Hook and eye , one of the small wire hooks and loops for fastening together the opposite edges of a garment, etc.
Hook bill (Zoology) , the strongly curved beak of a bird.
Hook ladder , a ladder with hooks at the end by which it can be suspended, as from the top of a wall.
Hook motion (Steam Engineering) , a valve gear which is reversed by V hooks.
Hook squid , any squid which has the arms furnished with hooks, instead of suckers, as in the genera Enoploteuthis and Onychteuthis.
Hook wrench , a wrench or spanner, having a hook at the end, instead of a jaw, for turning a bolthead, nut, or coupling.
Hook , transitive verb
1.
To catch or fasten with a hook or hooks; to seize, capture, or hold, as with a hook, esp. with a disguised or baited hook; hence, to secure by allurement or artifice; to entrap; to catch; as, to hook a dress; to hook a trout.
Hook him, my poor dear,... at any sacrifice.
2.
To seize or pierce with the points of the horns, as cattle in attacking enemies; to gore.
3.
To steal. [Colloquial English & United States]
Collocations (1)
To hook on , to fasten or attach by, or as by, hook.
Hook , intransitive verb
1.
To bend; to curve as a hook.
2.
To move or go with a sudden turn;
to make off; to clear out; -- often with it. [Slang or Provincial English]
Duncan was wounded, and the escort hooked it.