hook

English Online Dictionary. What means hook‎? What does hook mean?

English

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”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: ho͝ok, IPA^(key): /hʊk/
• (sometimes in Northern England and Ireland, otherwise obsolete) enPR: ho͞ok IPA^(key): /huːk/
• (Scotland, Northern Ireland) IPA^(key): /hʉk/
• Rhymes: -ʊk

Noun

hook (plural hooks)

1. A rod bent into a curved shape, typically with one end free and the other end secured to a rope or other attachment.
2. A barbed metal hook used for fishing; a fishhook.
3. Any of various hook-shaped agricultural implements such as a billhook.
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.
9. An advantageous hold.
10. (in the plural) The projecting points of the thighbones of cattle; called also hook bones.
11. (informal) Removal or expulsion from a group or activity.

12. (agriculture) A field sown two years in succession.
13. (authorship) 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.
14. (narratology) 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.
15. (bridge, slang) A finesse.
16. (card games, slang) A jack (the playing card).
17. (geography) A spit or narrow cape of sand or gravel turned landward at the outer end, such as Sandy Hook in New Jersey.
18. (music) A catchy musical phrase which forms the basis of a popular song.
19. (nautical, informal) A ship's anchor.
20. (programming) Part of a system's operation that can be intercepted to change or augment its behaviour.

    Synonym: endpoint
21. (Scrabble) 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.
22. (typography) A diacritical mark shaped like the upper part of a question mark, as in ỏ.
23. (typography, rare) A háček.
    • 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”.

24. Senses relating to sports.
    1. (baseball) A curveball.

    2. (basketball) 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.
    3. (bowling) A ball that is rolled in a curved line.
    4. (boxing) a type of punch delivered with the arm rigid and partially bent and the fist travelling nearly horizontally mesially along an arc
    5. (cricket) 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.
    6. (golf) A golf shot that (for the right-handed player) curves unintentionally to the left. (See draw, slice, fade.)
    7. The amount of spin placed on a bowling ball.
25. (Canada, Australia, military) Any of the chevrons denoting rank.
26. (slang) A prostitute.

    Synonym: hooker
27. (UK, slang, obsolete) A pickpocket.
28. (surfing) Synonym of shoulder (“the part of a wave that has not yet broken”)
29. (nautical, chiefly historical) 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.

    Hyponym: heel knee

Hyponyms

• grappling hook

Derived terms

Translations

References

• Weisenberg, Michael (2000) The Official Dictionary of Poker. MGI/Mike Caro University. →ISBN.

Verb

hook (third-person singular simple present hooks, present participle hooking, simple past and past participle hooked)

1. (transitive) To attach a hook to.

2. (intransitive) To become attached, as by a hook.

3. (transitive) To catch with a hook (hook a fish).

4. (transitive) To work yarn into a fabric using a hook; to crochet.
5. (transitive) To insert in a curved way reminiscent of a hook.

6. (transitive) To ensnare or obligate someone, as if with a hook.

7. (UK, US, slang, archaic) To steal.
8. (transitive) To connect (hook into, hook together).

9. (usually in passive) To make addicted; to captivate.

10. To acquire as a spouse.
11. (cricket, golf, basketball) To play a hook shot.
12. (rugby) To succeed in heeling the ball back out of a scrum (used particularly of the team's designated hooker).
13. (field hockey, ice hockey) To use the hockey stick to trip or block another player

14. (soccer, bowling) To swerve a ball; kick or throw a ball so it swerves or bends.
15. (intransitive, slang) To engage in prostitution.

16. (Scrabble) To play a word perpendicular to another word by adding a single letter to the existing word.
17. (bridge, slang) To finesse.
18. (transitive) To seize or pierce with the points of the horns, as cattle in attacking enemies; to gore.
19. (intransitive) To bend; to be curved.
20. (intransitive) To move or go with a sudden turn.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Khoo, OHKO

Indonesian

Etymology

• From Dutch hoek (“corner, angle”), from Middle Dutch hoec, huoc, from Old Dutch *huok, from Proto-Germanic *hōkaz (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *kog-, *keg-, *keng- (“peg, hook, claw”).
• The hyper-correction influenced by the cognate English hook.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈhʊk̚]

Noun

hook (plural hook-hook)

1. (colloquial) alternative form of huk (“land or building at the corner”).