Hooks
[ hoo ks ]
/ hʊks /
noun
Benjamin Lawson,1925–2010,
U.S. lawyer, clergyman, and civil-rights advocate: executive director of the NAACP 1977–93.
Definition for hooks (2 of 3)
hook
1
[ hoo k ]
/ hʊk /
noun
a curved or angular piece of metal or other hard substance for catching, pulling, holding, or suspending something.
a fishhook.
anything that catches; snare; trap.
something that attracts attention or serves as an enticement: The product is good but we need a sales hook to get people to buy it.
something having a sharp curve, bend, or angle at one end, as a mark or symbol.
a sharp curve or angle in the length or course of anything.
a curved arm of land jutting into the water; a curved peninsula: Sandy Hook.
a recurved and pointed organ or appendage of an animal or plant.
a small curved catch inserted into a loop to form a clothes fastener.
Sports.
- the path described by a ball, as in baseball, bowling, or golf, that curves in a direction opposite to the throwing hand or to the side of the ball from which it was struck.
- a ball describing such a path.
Boxing.
a short, circular punch delivered with the elbow bent.
Music.
Metalworking.
an accidental short bend formed in a piece of bar stock during rolling.
hooks, Slang.
hands or fingers: Get your hooks off that cake!
Underworld Slang.
a pickpocket.
Also called deck hook. Nautical.
a triangular plate or knee that binds together the stringers and plating at each end of a vessel.
verb (used with object)
to seize, fasten, suspend from, pierce, or catch hold of and draw with or as if with a hook.
to catch (fish) with a fishhook.
Slang.
to steal or seize by stealth.
Informal.
to catch or trick by artifice; snare.
(of a bull or other horned animal) to catch on the horns or attack with the horns.
to catch hold of and draw (loops of yarn) through cloth with or as if with a hook.
to make (a rug, garment, etc.) in this fashion.
Sports.
to hit or throw (a ball) so that a hook results.
Boxing.
to deliver a hook with: The champion hooked a right to his opponent's jaw.
Rugby.
to push (a ball) backward with the foot in scrummage from the front line.
to make hook-shaped; crook.
verb (used without object)
to become attached or fastened by or as if by a hook.
to curve or bend like a hook.
Sports.
- (of a player) to hook the ball.
- (of a ball) to describe a hook in course.
Slang.
to depart hastily: We'd better hook for home.
Verb Phrases
hook up,
- to fasten with a hook or hooks.
- to assemble or connect, as the components of a machine: to hook up a stereo system.
- to connect to a central source, as of power or water: The house hasn't been hooked up to the city's water system yet.
- Informal. to join, meet, or become associated with: He never had a decent job until he hooked up with this company.
- Informal. to have casual sex or a romantic date without a long-term commitment: He doesn't know her very well, but he hooked up with her a couple of times.
Origin of hook
1
before 900; 1830–40,
Americanism
for def 36; Middle English
hoke (noun and v.), Old English
hōc (noun); cognate with Dutch
hoek hook, angle, corner; akin to German
Haken, Old Norse
haki
OTHER WORDS FROM hook
hook·less, adjective hook·like, adjectiveWORDS THAT MAY BE CONFUSED WITH hook
penance pennantsDefinition for hooks (3 of 3)
hook
2
[ hoo k ]
/ hʊk /
verb (used without object)
Slang.
to work as a prostitute.
Origin of hook
2
back formation from
hooker1
Example sentences from the Web for hooks
Once a month he attaches a device to his chest, clamps metal bracelets on his wrists, and hooks the whole thing up to a telephone.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days |David Freeman |December 13, 2014 |DAILY BEASTWe kept going up until we found ourselves in a vast Sharkarama, a huge loft with fake sharks hung from hooks everywhere.
My Time on the Set of 'Jaws,' or How to Get a Photo of a Frickin' Mechanical Shark |Tom Shales |August 17, 2014 |DAILY BEASTAs a whole, Paula is neither catchy enough for the charts nor inventive enough to justify its shortage of hooks.
Robin Thicke’s ‘Paula’ Is What You Shouldn’t Do When You Get Dumped |Andrew Romano |June 26, 2014 |DAILY BEASTThen, with wind blowing him out horizontal under the wing, he hooks a boot on that balky wheel, kicks the mother home.
But I did a lot of stuff before “Gentleman,” so this song is sort of a mash-up of my previous 10 tracks and 10 hooks.
Psy on New Single ‘Gentleman,’ Kim Jong-un, Justin Bieber & More |Marlow Stern |April 29, 2013 |DAILY BEASTHe jerked the ladder from side to side till the hooks above lost their hold and it fell, so that he drew it in.
Wulfric the Weapon Thane |Charles W. WhistlerHe made, it would seem, few new friends, though he grappled his old ones as 'with hooks of steel.'
Hours in a Library |Leslie StephenThe only place to hang clothing was the back of the door, into which hooks had been screwed.
The Hills of Refuge |Will N. HarbenBy way of wardrobe accommodation, the back of the door was generously studded with hooks for hanging clothes.
The Call of the Town |John Alexander HammertonAll the two thousand hooks pass four times through the hands of the men on the lugger.
Tommy Tregennis |Mary Elizabeth Phillips
British Dictionary definitions for hooks
hook
/ (hʊk) /
noun
a piece of material, usually metal, curved or bent and used to suspend, catch, hold, or pull something
short for fish-hook
a trap or snare
mainly US
something that attracts or is intended to be an attraction
something resembling a hook in design or use
- a sharp bend or angle in a geological formation, esp a river
- a sharply curved spit of land
boxing
a short swinging blow delivered from the side with the elbow bent
cricket
a shot in which the ball is hit square on the leg side with the bat held horizontally
golf
a shot that causes the ball to swerve sharply from right to left
surfing
the top of a breaking wave
Also called: hookcheck ice hockey
the act of hooking an opposing player
music
a stroke added to the stem of a written or printed note to indicate time values shorter than a crotchet
a catchy musical phrase in a pop song
another name for a sickle
a nautical word for anchor
by hook or crook or by hook or by crook
by any means
get the hook US and Canadian slang
to be dismissed from employment
hook, line, and sinker informal
completely
he fell for it hook, line, and sinker
off the hook
- slang out of danger; free from obligation or guilt
- (of a telephone receiver) not on the support, so that incoming calls cannot be received
on one's own hook slang, mainly US
on one's own initiative
on the hook slang
- waiting
- in a dangerous or difficult situation
sling one's hook British slang
to leave
verb
(often foll by up)
to fasten or be fastened with or as if with a hook or hooks
(tr)
to catch (something, such as a fish) on a hook
to curve like or into the shape of a hook
(tr)
(of bulls, elks, etc) to catch or gore with the horns
(tr)
to make (a rug) by hooking yarn through a stiff fabric backing with a special instrument
(tr often foll by down)
to cut (grass or herbage) with a sickle
to hook down weeds
boxing
to hit (an opponent) with a hook
ice hockey
to impede (an opposing player) by catching hold of him with the stick
golf
to play (a ball) with a hook
rugby
to obtain and pass (the ball) backwards from a scrum to a member of one's team, using the feet
cricket
to play (a ball) with a hook
(tr) informal
to trick
(tr) a slang word for steal
hook it slang
to run or go quickly away
See also
hook-up
Derived forms of hook
hookless, adjective hooklike, adjectiveWord Origin for hook
Old English
hōc; related to Middle Dutch
hōk, Old Norse
haki
Idioms and Phrases with hooks
hook
In addition to the idioms beginning with hook
- hook or crook
- hook up
also see:
- by hook or crook
- off the hook
- on one's own account (hook)