hook
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: Scrabble
agriculture
authorship
ball-games
baseball
basketball
board-games
bowling
boxing
bridge
broadcasting
business
card-games
communications
computing
cricket
engineering
entertainment
film
games
geography
golf
government
hobbies
human-sciences
ice-hockey
journalism
lifestyle
linguistics
literature
martial-arts
mathematics
media
military
music
narratology
natural-sciences
nautical
physical-sciences
politics
programming
publishing
rugby
sciences
skating
soccer
sports
surfing
television
transport
typography
war
writing
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.
Inflected forms:
form: hooks
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: hooks
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: hooking
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: hooked
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: hooked
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A rod bent into a curved shape, typically with one end free and the other end secured to a rope or other attachment.
pos: noun
examples: "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
gloss: A barbed metal hook used for fishing; a fishhook.
pos: noun
gloss: Any of various hook-shaped agricultural implements such as a billhook.
pos: noun
examples: 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: [...]
gloss: The curved needle used in the art of crochet.
pos: noun
gloss: The part of a hinge which is fixed to a post, and on which a door or gate hangs and turns.
pos: noun
gloss: A loop shaped like a hook under certain written letters, for example, g and j.
pos: noun
gloss: A tie-in to a current event or trend that makes a news story or editorial relevant and timely.
pos: noun
gloss: A snare; a trap.
pos: noun
examples: A shop of all the qualities, that man
Loues woman for, besides that hooke of Wiuing,
gloss: An advantageous hold.
pos: noun
examples: “What makes you so sure that nobody knows you've got a hook into him?” Ward asked.
gloss: The projecting points of the thighbones of cattle; called also hook bones.
pos: noun
tags: in-plural
gloss: Removal or expulsion from a group or activity.
pos: noun
tags: informal
examples: He is not handling this job, so we're giving him the hook.
gloss: A field sown two years in succession.
pos: noun
gloss: A grasp (of), an attachment (to).
pos: noun
tags: informal
examples: 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.
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.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
examples: The hook of Good Boys, Hollywood's latest odyssey of comic adolescent mischief, is that the kids behaving badly are, for once, truly kids.
gloss: A finesse.
pos: noun
tags: slang
gloss: A jack (the playing card).
pos: noun
tags: slang
gloss: A sharp bend or angle in the course or length of an object (e.g. a bend in a river, etc.).
pos: noun
gloss: A spit or narrow cape of sand or gravel turned landward at the outer end, such as Sandy Hook in New Jersey.
pos: noun
gloss: A catchy musical phrase which forms the basis of a popular song.
pos: noun
examples: The song's hook snared me.
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.
gloss: A ship's anchor.
pos: noun
tags: informal
gloss: Part of a system's operation that can be intercepted to change or augment its behaviour.
pos: noun
examples: We've added hooks to allow undefined message types to be handled with custom code.
In lieu of those unneeded hooks, write code to fail fast and prevent gaps from becoming a problem.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
gloss: A diacritical mark shaped like the upper part of a question mark, as in ỏ.
pos: noun
gloss: A háček.
pos: noun
tags: rare
examples: Common diacritics in Slavonic language are the hook ˇ (as in haček – Czech for ‘hook’) and the stroke ´ (robić – Polish for ‘do/make’).
In Czech, palatalization is normally indicated by the symbol ˇ, called haček or “hook.”
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”.
gloss: Senses relating to sports.
pos: noun
examples: He threw a hook in the dirt.
gloss: Senses relating to sports.
pos: noun
gloss: Senses relating to sports.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
gloss: Senses relating to sports.
pos: noun
examples: The heavyweight delivered a few powerful hooks that staggered his opponent.
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.
gloss: Senses relating to sports.
pos: noun
gloss: Senses relating to sports.
pos: noun
gloss: Senses relating to sports.
pos: noun
gloss: Any of the chevrons denoting rank.
pos: noun
tags: Australia
Canada
gloss: A prostitute.
pos: noun
tags: slang
examples: I was talkin' to a couple of the 'hooks' (female prostitutes) I know.
gloss: A pickpocket.
pos: noun
tags: UK
obsolete
slang
examples: 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.
"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.
gloss: Synonym of shoulder (“the part of a wave that has not yet broken”).
pos: noun
examples: This maneuver involves a sharp turn, back into the hook of the wave.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: historical
gloss: To attach a hook to.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Hook the bag here, and the conveyor will carry it away.
gloss: To become attached, as by a hook.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The utensil holder hooks onto the side of the dishrack.
gloss: To catch with a hook (hook a fish).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: He hooked a snake accidentally, and was so scared he dropped his rod into the water.
gloss: To work yarn into a fabric using a hook; to crochet.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: No one seems to want anything but hooked mats now.
gloss: To insert in a curved way reminiscent of a hook.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: He hooked his fingers through his belt loops.
gloss: To ensnare or obligate someone, as if with a hook.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: She's only here to try to hook a husband.
A free trial is a good way to hook customers.
gloss: To steal.
pos: verb
tags: UK
US
archaic
slang
gloss: To connect (hook into, hook together).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: If you hook your network cable into the jack, you'll be on the network.
gloss: To make addicted; to captivate.
pos: verb
examples: He had gotten hooked on cigarettes in his youth.
I watched one episode of that TV series and now I'm hooked.
gloss: To acquire as a spouse.
pos: verb
examples: 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."
gloss: To play a hook shot.
pos: verb
examples: "Hey, Sara! Watch this hook shot!" he shouted as he hooked the ball right through the net—swish!
gloss: To succeed in heeling the ball back out of a scrum (used particularly of the team's designated hooker).
pos: verb
gloss: To use the hockey stick to trip or block another player
pos: verb
examples: The opposing team's forward hooked me, but the referee didn't see it, so no penalty.
gloss: To swerve a ball; kick or throw a ball so it swerves or bends.
pos: verb
examples: 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.
gloss: To engage in prostitution.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
slang
examples: I had a cheap flat in the bad part of town, and I could watch the working girls hooking from my bedroom window.
gloss: To play a word perpendicular to another word by adding a single letter to the existing word.
pos: verb
gloss: To finesse.
pos: verb
tags: slang
gloss: To seize or pierce with the points of the horns, as cattle in attacking enemies; to gore.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To bend; to be curved.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 10 mins later, at the point where the road hooks sharp to the left, continue straight on through the wood along a mule track […]
gloss: To move or go with a sudden turn.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
Derived words: 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
closet 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
hookbill
hook-bill
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
nut-hook
nuthook
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
reap hook
reaphook
reaping hook
reaping-hook
rehook
rein hook
retroflex hook
rhotic hook
right hook
ring off the hook
Sandy Hook
sequel hook
shavehook
shave hook
sheephook
shithook
S-hook
sister hook
skyhook
slash hook
sling one's hook
snowhook
spoon hook
spoon-hook
spring hook
switchhook
switch hook
tailhook
take one's hook
tenter hook
tenterhook
tenter-hook
text hook
traveler hook
treble hook
underhook
unhook
wad hook
wad-hook
warping hook
webhook
weed hook
Welsh hook
Welsh Hook
with a hook
wolf hook
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
Translations:
lang: French
word: hook
lang: Greek
word: άγκιστρο
roman: ágkistro
lang: Macedonian
word: кука
roman: kuka
lang: Russian
word: хук
roman: xuk
lang: Russian
word: перехват
roman: perexvat
lang: Ukrainian
word: хук
roman: xuk