Word: hook Part of Speech: noun 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. A rod bent into a curved shape, typically with one end free and the other end secured to a rope or other attachment. Example: "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. Example: 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: [...] 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. Example: A shop of all the qualities, that man Loues woman for, besides that hooke of Wiuing, 9. An advantageous hold. Example: “What makes you so sure that nobody knows you've got a hook into him?” Ward asked. 10. The projecting points of the thighbones of cattle; called also hook bones. Labels: in-plural 11. Removal or expulsion from a group or activity. Labels: informal Example: He is not handling this job, so we're giving him the hook. 12. A field sown two years in succession. 13. A grasp (of), an attachment (to). Labels: informal Example: Much of the Two in Twenty humor is insider stuff; this soap is clearly made for lesbians who have been around the city block, with a few road trips to Michigan. Gay men may love it as well, and others with a hook into contemporary urban dyke life. Example: If you're struggling to get a hook on the scale of it, that's the North Stand at Leicester Tigers, plus six Peter Crouches, or half a Clock Tower. 14. 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. 15. 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. Example: The hook of Good Boys, Hollywood's latest odyssey of comic adolescent mischief, is that the kids behaving badly are, for once, truly kids. 16. A finesse. Labels: slang 17. A jack (the playing card). Labels: slang 18. A sharp bend or angle in the course or length of an object (e.g. a bend in a river, etc.). 19. A spit or narrow cape of sand or gravel turned landward at the outer end, such as Sandy Hook in New Jersey. 20. A catchy musical phrase which forms the basis of a popular song. Example: The song's hook snared me. Example: 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. 21. A ship's anchor. Labels: informal 22. Part of a system's operation that can be intercepted to change or augment its behaviour. Example: We've added hooks to allow undefined message types to be handled with custom code. Example: In lieu of those unneeded hooks, write code to fail fast and prevent gaps from becoming a problem. 23. 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. Example: 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. 24. A diacritical mark shaped like the upper part of a question mark, as in ỏ. 25. A háček. Labels: rare Example: Common diacritics in Slavonic language are the hook ˇ (as in haček – Czech for ‘hook’) and the stroke ´ (robić – Polish for ‘do/make’). Example: In Czech, palatalization is normally indicated by the symbol ˇ, called haček or “hook.” 26. Senses relating to sports. Example: He threw a hook in the dirt. 27. Senses relating to sports. 28. Senses relating to sports. Example: 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. 29. Senses relating to sports. Example: The heavyweight delivered a few powerful hooks that staggered his opponent. Example: 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. 30. Senses relating to sports. 31. Senses relating to sports. 32. Senses relating to sports. 33. Any of the chevrons denoting rank. Labels: Australia, Canada 34. A prostitute. Labels: slang Example: I was talkin' to a couple of the 'hooks' (female prostitutes) I know. 35. A pickpocket. Labels: UK, obsolete, slang Example: 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. Example: "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. 36. Synonym of shoulder (“the part of a wave that has not yet broken”). Example: This maneuver involves a sharp turn, back into the hook of the wave. 37. 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. Labels: historical