hook

Pronunciation

• enPR: ho͝ok, IPA: /hʊk/
• (sometimes in Northern England, otherwise obsolete) enPR: ho͞ok IPA: /huːk/

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.
    • He is not handling this job, so we're giving him the hook.
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.
    • The song's hook snared me.
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
    • We've added hooks to allow undefined message types to be handled with custom code.
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.
24. Senses relating to sports.
    1. (baseball) A curveball.
       • He threw a hook in the dirt.
    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
       • The heavyweight delivered a few powerful hooks that staggered his opponent.
    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.)
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

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To attach a hook to.
   • Hook the bag here, and the conveyor will carry it away.
2. (transitive) To catch with a hook (hook a fish).
   • He hooked a snake accidentally, and was so scared he dropped his rod into the water.
3. (transitive) To work yarn into a fabric using a hook; to crochet.
4. (transitive) To insert in a curved way reminiscent of a hook.
   • He hooked his fingers through his belt loops.
5. (transitive) To ensnare or obligate someone, as if with a hook.
   • She's only here to try to hook a husband.
   • A free trial is a good way to hook customers.
6. (UK, US, slang, archaic) To steal.
7. (transitive) To connect (hook into, hook together).
   • If you hook your network cable into the jack, you'll be on the network.
8. (usually in passive) To make addicted; to captivate.
   • He had gotten hooked on cigarettes in his youth.
   • I watched one episode of that TV series and now I'm hooked.
9. (cricket, golf) To play a hook shot.
10. (rugby) To succeed in heeling the ball back out of a scrum (used particularly of the team's designated hooker).
11. (field hockey, ice hockey) To engage in the illegal maneuver of hooking (i.e., using the hockey stick to trip or block another player)
    • The opposing team's forward hooked me, but the referee didn't see it, so no penalty.
12. (soccer, bowling) To swerve a ball; kick or throw a ball so it swerves or bends.
13. (intransitive, slang) To engage in prostitution.
    • I had a cheap flat in the bad part of town, and I could watch the working girls hooking from my bedroom window.
14. (Scrabble) To play a word perpendicular to another word by adding a single letter to the existing word.
15. (bridge, slang) To finesse.
16. (transitive) To seize or pierce with the points of the horns, as cattle in attacking enemies; to gore.
17. (intransitive) To move or go with a sudden turn.

Anagrams

• Khoo, OHKO

Pronunciation

• IPA: [ˈhʊk̚]

Noun

hook (first-person possessive hookku, second-person possessive hookmu, third-person possessive hooknya)

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