Word: hook Part of Speech: verb Etymology: 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. Pronunciation: /hʊk/, /hɵk/, /huːk/, /hʉk/ 1. To attach a hook to. Labels: transitive Example: Hook the bag here, and the conveyor will carry it away. 2. To become attached, as by a hook. Labels: intransitive Example: The utensil holder hooks onto the side of the dishrack. 3. To catch with a hook (hook a fish). Labels: transitive Example: 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. Labels: transitive Example: No one seems to want anything but hooked mats now. 5. To insert in a curved way reminiscent of a hook. Labels: transitive Example: He hooked his fingers through his belt loops. 6. To ensnare or obligate someone, as if with a hook. Labels: transitive Example: She's only here to try to hook a husband. Example: A free trial is a good way to hook customers. 7. To steal. Labels: UK, US, archaic, slang 8. To connect (hook into, hook together). Labels: transitive Example: If you hook your network cable into the jack, you'll be on the network. 9. To make addicted; to captivate. Example: He had gotten hooked on cigarettes in his youth. Example: I watched one episode of that TV series and now I'm hooked. 10. To acquire as a spouse. Example: 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 to be a lawyer and she's going to be all set." 11. To play a hook shot. Example: "Hey, Sara! Watch this hook shot!" he shouted as he hooked the ball right through the net—swish! 12. To succeed in heeling the ball back out of a scrum (used particularly of the team's designated hooker). 13. To use the hockey stick to trip or block another player Example: The opposing team's forward hooked me, but the referee didn't see it, so no penalty. 14. To swerve a ball; kick or throw a ball so it swerves or bends. Example: The Reds carved the first opening of the second period as Glen Johnson's pull-back found David Ngog but the Frenchman hooked wide from six yards. 15. To engage in prostitution. Labels: intransitive, slang Example: I had a cheap flat in the bad part of town, and I could watch the working girls hooking from my bedroom window. 16. To play a word perpendicular to another word by adding a single letter to the existing word. 17. To finesse. Labels: slang 18. To seize or pierce with the points of the horns, as cattle in attacking enemies; to gore. Labels: transitive 19. To bend; to be curved. Labels: intransitive Example: 10 mins later, at the point where the road hooks sharp to the left, continue straight on through the wood along a mule track […] 20. To move or go with a sudden turn. Labels: intransitive