Hook

Hook (hook; 277), n. [OE. hok, AS. hōc; cf. D. haak, G. hake, haken, OHG. hāko, hāgo, hāggo, 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 (Zoöl.), 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 (ho͝ok; 277), v. i. To bend; to curve as a hook.