hook

HOOK, noun 1. A piece of iron or other metal bent into a curve for catching, holding and sustaining any thing; as a hook for catching fish; a teeter-hook; a chimney-hook; a pot-hook, etc. 2. A snare; a trap. 3. A curving instrument for cutting grass or grain; a sickle; an instrument for cutting or lopping. 4. That part of a hinge which is fixed or inserted in a post. Whence the phrase, to be off the hooks, to be unhinged, to be disturbed or disordered. 5. A forked timber in a ship, placed on the keel. 6. A catch; an advantage. [Vulgar.] 7. In husbandry, a field sown two years running. [Local.] By hook and by crook, one way or other; by any means, direct or indirect. HOOK, verb transitive To catch with a hook; as, to hook a fish. 1. To seize and draw, as with a hook 2. To fasten with a hook 3. To entrap; to ensnare. 4. To draw by force or artifice. To hook on, to apply a hook HOOK, verb intransitive To bend; to be curving.