hook

A rod bent into a curved shape, typically with one end free and the other end secured to a rope or other attachment.

Noun

  1. A rod bent into a curved shape, typically with one end free and the other end secured to a rope or other attachment.
    • "If I were a pirate and lost my hand, I would ask them to replace it with a computer mouse rather than a hook. I use a computer mouse all day, and I only use a hook three to five times a day."¶ -Emma Stone¶ On hooks -...
  2. A barbed metal hook used for fishing; a fishhook.
  3. Any of various hook-shaped agricultural implements such as a billhook.
    • Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep, / Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook / Spares the next swath and all its twinèd flowers: [...] - 1819 September 19, John Keats, “To Autumn”, in Lamia, Isabella, the...
  4. The curved needle used in the art of crochet.
  5. The part of a hinge which is fixed to a post, and on which a door or gate hangs and turns.
  6. A loop shaped like a hook under certain written letters, for example, g and j.
  7. A tie-in to a current event or trend that makes a news story or editorial relevant and timely.
  8. A snare; a trap.
    • A shop of all the qualities, that man Loues woman for, besides that hooke of Wiuing, - 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies,...
  9. An advantageous hold.
    • “What makes you so sure that nobody knows you've got a hook into him?” Ward asked. - 2020, Joel W. Barrows, Deep Red Cover:
  10. The projecting points of the thighbones of cattle; called also hook bones.
  11. Removal or expulsion from a group or activity.
    • He is not handling this job, so we're giving him the hook.
  12. A field sown two years in succession.

Origin

From Middle English hoke, from Old English hōc (“angle, point, hook”), from Proto-West Germanic *hōk, from Proto-Germanic *hōkaz, variant of *hakô (“hook”), probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kog-, *keg-, *keng- (“peg, hook, claw”). Cognates Cognate with Scots huke, huik (“hook”), West Frisian and Dutch hoek (“hook, angle, corner”), Low German Hook, Huuk, German Hook (“small cluster of farms”), Faroese høkja (“crutch”), Icelandic hækja (“crutch”), Norn hek (“crutch”), Finnish kuokka (“hoe, mattock”). Related to hake.

Forms

hooks

Hyponyms

grappling hook

Derived

Aberdeen hook amnihook anal hook armhook baithook bench hook bid hook bill-hook bill hook blue hook star boat hook boat-hook boathook Bombay Hook boothook breasthook Brummel hook brush hook bullhook butcher's hook butthook buttonhook by hook or by crook cabin hook

Verb

  1. To attach a hook to.
    • Hook the bag here, and the conveyor will carry it away.
  2. To become attached, as by a hook.
    • The utensil holder hooks onto the side of the dishrack.
  3. To catch with a hook (hook a fish).
    • He hooked a snake accidentally, and was so scared he dropped his rod into the water.
  4. To work yarn into a fabric using a hook; to crochet.
    • No one seems to want anything but hooked mats now. - 1917, L M Montgomery, Anne's House of Dreams:
  5. To insert in a curved way reminiscent of a hook.
    • He hooked his fingers through his belt loops.
  6. To ensnare or obligate someone, as if with a hook.
    • She's only here to try to hook a husband.
    • A free trial is a good way to hook customers.
  7. To steal.
  8. To connect (hook into, hook together).
    • If you hook your network cable into the jack, you'll be on the network.
  9. To make addicted; to captivate.
    • He had gotten hooked on cigarettes in his youth.
    • I watched one episode of that TV series and now I'm hooked.
  10. To acquire as a spouse.
    • People talk about so and so getting married and they always comment about the class or potential class status of the person this woman had "hooked." You know, "He comes from a working class background but he's studying...
  11. To play a hook shot.
    • "Hey, Sara! Watch this hook shot!" he shouted as he hooked the ball right through the net—swish! - 2012, Roland Johnson, Jeremya Jones: A King's Kid, page 93:
  12. To succeed in heeling the ball back out of a scrum (used particularly of the team's designated hooker).

Forms

hooks hooking hooked

Derived

hook-a-duck hook-and-loop hook-and-loop fastener hook-and-pile fastener hooker hook it up hook off hook up hook up on