hook
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: ho͝ok
ipa: /hʊk/
note: sometimes in Northern England and Ireland, otherwise obsolete
enpr: ho͞ok
ipa: /huːk/
note: sometimes in Northern England and Ireland, otherwise obsolete
ipa: /hʉk/
rhymes: -ʊk
Forms: form: hooks
Etymology: From Middle English hoke, from Old English hōc, 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
Compare West Frisian heak, Dutch haak (“hook”)) (compare West Frisian/Dutch hoek (“hook, angle, corner”), Low German Hook, Huuk); also related to hake.
Senses: glosses: A rod bent into a curved shape, typically with one end free and the other end secured to a rope or other attachment.
glosses: A barbed metal hook used for fishing; a fishhook.
examples: ref: 1733–1737, Alexander Pope, [Imitations of Horace], London: […] R[obert] Dodsley [et al.]:
text: 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: [...]
ref: 1819 September 19, John Keats, “To Autumn”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza 2, page 138:
glosses: Any of various hook-shaped agricultural implements such as a billhook.
glosses: The curved needle used in the art of crochet.
glosses: The part of a hinge which is fixed to a post, and on which a door or gate hangs and turns.
glosses: A loop shaped like a hook under certain written letters, for example, g and j.
glosses: A tie-in to a current event or trend that makes a news story or editorial relevant and timely.
examples: text: A shop of all the qualities, that man
Loues woman for, besides that hooke of Wiuing,
ref: 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]:
glosses: A snare; a trap.
examples: text: “What makes you so sure that nobody knows you've got a hook into him?” Ward asked.
ref: 2020, Joel W. Barrows, Deep Red Cover:
glosses: An advantageous hold.
glosses: The projecting points of the thighbones of cattle; called also hook bones.
examples: text: He is not handling this job, so we're giving him the hook.
glosses: Removal or expulsion from a group or activity.
topics: agriculture
business
lifestyle
glosses: A field sown two years in succession.
topics: authorship
broadcasting
communications
film
journalism
literature
media
publishing
television
writing
glosses: A brief, punchy opening statement intended to get attention from an audience, reader, or viewer, and make them want to continue to listen to a speech, read a book, or watch a play.
examples: text: The hook of Good Boys, Hollywood's latest odyssey of comic adolescent mischief, is that the kids behaving badly are, for once, truly kids.
ref: 2019 August 14, A. A. Dowd, “Good Boys Puts a Tween Spin on the R-rated Teen Comedy, to Mostly Funny Effect”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2021:
topics: human-sciences
linguistics
narratology
sciences
glosses: A gimmick or element of a creative work intended to be attention-grabbing for the audience; a compelling idea for a story that will be sure to attract people's attention.
topics: bridge
games
glosses: A finesse.
topics: card-games
games
glosses: A jack (the playing card).
topics: geography
natural-sciences
glosses: A spit or narrow cape of sand or gravel turned landward at the outer end, such as Sandy Hook in New Jersey.
examples: text: The song's hook snared me.
text: Guitarist Jade Puget and vocalist Davey Havok have distilled AFI’s strengths (a ferocious, post-hardcore rhythmic backbone; goth-tinctured, post-punky guitars; and Havok’s desperate, dramatic croon) into 14 taut, hook-driven songs.
ref: 2017 January 20, Annie Zaleski, “AFI sounds refreshed and rejuvenated on its 10th album, AFI (The Blood Album)”, in The A.V. Club:
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
glosses: A catchy musical phrase which forms the basis of a popular song.
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A ship's anchor.
examples: text: We've added hooks to allow undefined message types to be handled with custom code.
text: In lieu of those unneeded hooks, write code to fail fast and prevent gaps from becoming a problem.
ref: 2015, Rachel Alt-Simmons, Agile by Design, page 182:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
programming
sciences
synonyms: endpoint
glosses: Part of a system's operation that can be intercepted to change or augment its behaviour.
examples: text: Setup plays can also be made when you do not have the needed letter but believe your opponent doesn't know the hook owing to its obscurity.
ref: 2003, Andrew Fisher, David Webb, The Art of Scrabble, →ISBN, page 58:
topics: Scrabble
board-games
games
glosses: An instance of playing a word perpendicular to a word already on the board, adding a letter to the start or the end of the word to form a new word.
topics: media
publishing
typography
glosses: A diacritical mark shaped like the upper part of a question mark, as in ỏ.
examples: text: Common diacritics in Slavonic language are the hook ˇ (as in haček – Czech for ‘hook’) and the stroke ´ (robić – Polish for ‘do/make’).
ref: 2003, Language Issues, XV-XVIII, page 36:
text: In Czech, palatalization is normally indicated by the symbol ˇ, called haček or “hook.”
ref: 2003, David Adams, The Song and Duet Texts of Antonín Dvořák, page 168:
text: 2004, Keesing’s Record of World Events L:i–xii, page unknown
In detailing the proposed shortening of the Czech Republic to Česko…the hook (hacek) erroneously appeared over the letter “e” instead of the “C”.
topics: media
publishing
typography
glosses: A háček.
examples: text: He threw a hook in the dirt.
topics: ball-games
baseball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Senses relating to sports.
A curveball.
topics: ball-games
basketball
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Senses relating to sports.
a basketball shot in which the offensive player, usually turned perpendicular to the basket, gently throws the ball with a sweeping motion of his arm in an upward arc with a follow-through which ends over his head. Also called hook shot.
examples: text: However, for pins on the bowler's right, such as the 3, 6, 9, or 10, move more toward the center of the foul line if you bowl a straight ball or slightly to the left of the center of the foul line if you bowl a hook.
ref: 1969, Harold Keith, Sports and Games, page 102:
topics: bowling
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Senses relating to sports.
A ball that is rolled in a curved line.
examples: text: The heavyweight delivered a few powerful hooks that staggered his opponent.
text: American Ward was too quick and too slick for his British rival, landing at will with razor sharp jabs and hooks and even bullying Froch at times.
ref: 2011 December 18, Ben Dirs, “Carl Froch outclassed by dazzling Andre Ward”, in BBC Sport:
topics: boxing
government
hobbies
lifestyle
martial-arts
military
politics
sports
war
glosses: Senses relating to sports.
a type of punch delivered with the arm rigid and partially bent and the fist travelling nearly horizontally mesially along an arc
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Senses relating to sports.
A type of shot played by swinging the bat in a horizontal arc, hitting the ball high in the air to the leg side, often played to balls which bounce around head height.
topics: golf
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Senses relating to sports.
A golf shot that (for the right-handed player) curves unintentionally to the left. (See draw, slice, fade.)
glosses: Senses relating to sports.
The amount of spin placed on a bowling ball.
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: Any of the chevrons denoting rank.
examples: text: I was talkin' to a couple of the 'hooks' (female prostitutes) I know.
ref: 1983, G. W. Levi Kamel, Downtown Street Hustlers, page 160:
synonyms: hooker
glosses: A prostitute.
examples: text: He preceded me to Dartmoor, where I found his fame even more loudly trumpeted than ever, especially by Manchester “hooks” (pickpockets), who boast of being the rivals of the “Cocks,” or Londoners, in the art of obtaining other people's property without paying for it.
ref: 1885, Michael Davitt, Leaves from a Prison Diary, page 18:
text: "Everybody's a tool over there. Everybody's a hook, except them four guys on the points of the compass. They are eight or ten strong over there." But all professional pickpockets, however expert or however clumsy, operate on the basis of the situation just outlined.
ref: 2003, David W. Maurer, Whiz Mob: A Correlation of the Technical Argot of Pickpockets with Their Behavior Pattern, page 58:
glosses: A pickpocket.
examples: text: This maneuver involves a sharp turn, back into the hook of the wave.
ref: 1963, Grant W. Kuhns, On Surfing, page 67:
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
surfing
glosses: Synonym of shoulder (“the part of a wave that has not yet broken”).
synonyms: word: shoulder
extra: the part of a wave that has not yet broken
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: A knee-shaped wooden join connecting the keel to the stem (post forming the frontmost part of the bow) or the sternpost in cog-like vessels or similar vessels.
Hyponyms: grappling hook
Derived terms: 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
can hook
cant hook
check hook
chimney hook
clove hook
coat hook
coathook
crochet hook
deck hook
dehook
diacritical hook
dog hook
draught hook
drawhook
eyehook
eye hook
fifi hook
firehook
fish hook
fish-hook theory
fishing hook
fleshhook
foothook
forehook
Gedge hook
gorge hook
grapplehook
grasshook
gut hook
heddle hook
heel hook
hookable
hook above
hook-and-bullet
hook and eye
hook-and-liner
hook-bill
hookbill
Hook End
hook flash
hookgun
hook in
hookish
hook it
hookkeeper
hook ladder
hookless
hooklet
hooklike
hook, line and sinker
hookmaker
hookmaking
hookman
hook maneuver
hooknose
hook-nosed
hook pin
hookset
hooksetting
hook shop
hook shot
hook stock
hookswitch
hook switch
hooktail
hookthorn
hooktip
hooktop
hook turn
hook-up
hook-ups
hookworm
hook wrench
hooky
junk-hook
left hook
limerick hook
lunch hook
meat hook
microhook
mousing hook
mouth hook
mudhook
narrative hook
nuthook
nut-hook
off the hook
on-hook
on one's own hook
on the hook
overhook
palatal hook
pole hook
pothook
pot-hook
pre-hook
pruning hook
pruning-hook
rave hook
reaphook
reap hook
reaping hook
reaping-hook
rehook
rein hook
retroflex hook
rhotic hook
ring off the hook
Sandy Hook
sequel hook
shave hook
shavehook
sheephook
shithook
sister hook
skyhook
slash hook
sling one's hook
snowhook
spoon hook
spoon-hook
spring hook
switch hook
switchhook
tailhook
take one's hook
tenter-hook
tenterhook
tenter hook
text hook
treble hook
underhook
unhook
wad-hook
wad hook
warping hook
webhook
weed hook
Welsh hook
Welsh Hook
with a hook
wolf hook