Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Hook?

\Hook\, n. [OE. hok, AS. h[=o]c; cf. D. haak, G. hake, haken, OHG. h[=a]ko, h[=a]go, h[=a]ggo, Icel. haki, Sw. hake, Dan. hage. Cf. {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. --Pope. 4. (Steam Engin.) See {Eccentric}, and {V-hook}. 5. A snare; a trap. [R.] --Shak. 6. A field sown two years in succession. [Prov. Eng.] 7. pl. The projecting points of the thigh bones of cattle; -- called also {hook bones}. {By hook or by crook}, one way or other; by any means, direct or indirect. --Milton. ``In hope her to attain by hook or crook.'' --Spenser. {Off the hooks}, unhinged; disturbed; disordered. [Colloq.] ``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.'' --Pepys. {On one's own hook}, on one's own account or responsibility; by one's self. [Colloq. U.S.] --Bartlett. {To go off the hooks}, to die. [Colloq.] --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} (Zo["o]l.), 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 Engin.), 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\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Hooked}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Hooking}.] 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. --W. Collins. 2. To seize or pierce with the points of the horns, as cattle in attacking enemies; to gore. 3. To steal. [Colloq. Eng. & U.S.] {To hook on}, to fasten or attach by, or as by, hook.
\Hook\, v. i. To bend; to curve as a hook.
\Hook\, v. i. To move or go with a sudden turn; hence [Slang or Prov. Eng.], to make off; to clear out; -- often with it. ``Duncan was wounded, and the escort hooked it.'' --Kipling.