Pronunciations (5)
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/hʊk/
Pronunciation notes
- Australia
- General-American
- New-Zealand
- Received-Pronunciation
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/hɵk/
Pronunciation notes
- British
- Southern
- Standard
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/huːk/
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/hʉk/
Pronunciation notes
- Northern-Ireland
- Scotland
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hʊk
Noun
A rod bent into a curved shape, typically with one end free and the other end secured to a rope or other attachment.
- Examples
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More examples (1)
"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
A barbed metal hook used for fishing; a fishhook.
Any of various hook-shaped agricultural implements such as a billhook.
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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: [...]
The curved needle used in the art of crochet.
The part of a hinge which is fixed to a post, and on which a door or gate hangs and turns.
A loop shaped like a hook under certain written letters, for example, g and j.
A tie-in to a current event or trend that makes a news story or editorial relevant and timely.
A snare; a trap.
- Examples
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A shop of all the qualities, that man Loues woman for, besides that hooke of Wiuing,
An advantageous hold.
- Examples
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“What makes you so sure that nobody knows you've got a hook into him?” Ward asked.
The projecting points of the thighbones of cattle; called also hook bones.
Usage- in-plural
Removal or expulsion from a group or activity.
Usage- Informal
- Examples
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He is not handling this job, so we're giving him the hook.
A field sown two years in succession.
A grasp (of), an attachment (to).
Usage- Informal
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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.
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.
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.
- Examples
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The hook of Good Boys, Hollywood's latest odyssey of comic adolescent mischief, is that the kids behaving badly are, for once, truly kids.
A finesse.
Usage- Slang
A jack (the playing card).
Usage- Slang
A sharp bend or angle in the course or length of an object (e.g. a bend in a river, etc.).
A spit or narrow cape of sand or gravel turned landward at the outer end, such as Sandy Hook in New Jersey.
- Broader terms
A catchy musical phrase which forms the basis of a popular song.
- Examples
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The song's hook snared me.
More examples (1)
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.
A ship's anchor.
Usage- Informal
Part of a system's operation that can be intercepted to change or augment its behaviour.
- Synonyms
- Examples
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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.
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.
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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.
A diacritical mark shaped like the upper part of a question mark, as in ỏ.
A háček.
Usage- Rare
- Examples
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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.”
More examples (1)
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”.
Senses relating to sports. A curveball.
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He threw a hook in the dirt.
Senses relating to sports. 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.
Senses relating to sports. A ball that is rolled in a curved line.
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More examples (1)
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.
Senses relating to sports. a type of punch delivered with the arm rigid and partially bent and the fist travelling nearly horizontally mesially along an arc
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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.
Senses relating to sports. 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.
Senses relating to sports. A golf shot that (for the right-handed player) curves unintentionally to the left. (See draw, slice, fade.)
Senses relating to sports. The amount of spin placed on a bowling ball.
Any of the chevrons denoting rank.
Usage- Australia
- Canada
A prostitute.
Usage- Slang
- Synonyms
- Examples
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I was talkin' to a couple of the 'hooks' (female prostitutes) I know.
A pickpocket.
Usage- UK usage
- Obsolete
- Slang
- Examples
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More examples (2)
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.
Synonym of shoulder (“the part of a wave that has not yet broken”).
- Examples
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This maneuver involves a sharp turn, back into the hook of the wave.
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.
Usage- Historical
Verb
To attach a hook to.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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Hook the bag here, and the conveyor will carry it away.
To become attached, as by a hook.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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The utensil holder hooks onto the side of the dishrack.
To catch with a hook (hook a fish).
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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He hooked a snake accidentally, and was so scared he dropped his rod into the water.
To work yarn into a fabric using a hook; to crochet.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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No one seems to want anything but hooked mats now.
To insert in a curved way reminiscent of a hook.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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He hooked his fingers through his belt loops.
To ensnare or obligate someone, as if with a hook.
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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She's only here to try to hook a husband.
A free trial is a good way to hook customers.
To steal.
Usage- UK usage
- US usage
- Archaic
- Slang
To connect (hook into, hook together).
Usage- Transitive
- Examples
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If you hook your network cable into the jack, you'll be on the network.
To make addicted; to captivate.
- Examples
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He had gotten hooked on cigarettes in his youth.
I watched one episode of that TV series and now I'm hooked.
To acquire as a spouse.
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More examples (1)
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."
To play a hook shot.
- Examples
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"Hey, Sara! Watch this hook shot!" he shouted as he hooked the ball right through the net—swish!
To succeed in heeling the ball back out of a scrum (used particularly of the team's designated hooker).
To use the hockey stick to trip or block another player
- Examples
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The opposing team's forward hooked me, but the referee didn't see it, so no penalty.
To swerve a ball; kick or throw a ball so it swerves or bends.
- Examples
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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.
To engage in prostitution.
Usage- Intransitive
- Slang
- Examples
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I had a cheap flat in the bad part of town, and I could watch the working girls hooking from my bedroom window.
To play a word perpendicular to another word by adding a single letter to the existing word.
To finesse.
Usage- Slang
To seize or pierce with the points of the horns, as cattle in attacking enemies; to gore.
Usage- Transitive
To bend; to be curved.
Usage- Intransitive
- Examples
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10 mins later, at the point where the road hooks sharp to the left, continue straight on through the wood along a mule track […]
To move or go with a sudden turn.
Usage- Intransitive
To play hooky; to skip school or a class
Usage- Slang
- Examples
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They hooked English, sneaking out behind the school and smoking cigarettes.
Noun
a catch for locking a door
- Broader terms
a sharp curve or crook; a shape resembling a hook
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
anything that serves as an enticement
- Broader terms
a mechanical device that is curved or bent to suspend or hold or pull something
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
a curved or bent implement for suspending or pulling something
- Broader terms
a golf shot that curves to the left for a right-handed golfer
- Broader terms
- Examples
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he took lessons to cure his hooking
a short swinging punch delivered from the side with the elbow bent
a basketball shot made over the head with the hand that is farther from the basket
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
Verb
fasten with a hook
- Antonyms
rip off; ask an unreasonable price
make a piece of needlework by interlocking and looping thread with a hooked needle
- Synonyms
- Broader terms
- Examples
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She sat there crocheting all day
hit a ball and put a spin on it so that it travels to the left
- Broader terms
take by theft
- Examples
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Someone snitched my wallet!
make off with belongings of others
hit with a hook
- Broader terms
- Examples
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His opponent hooked him badly
catch with a hook
- Examples
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hook a fish
to cause (someone or oneself) to become dependent (on something, especially a narcotic drug)
- Synonyms
secure with the foot
- Broader terms
- Examples
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hook the ball
entice and trap
- Synonyms
- Examples
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The car salesman had snared three potential customers
approach with an offer of sexual favors
- Examples
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he was solicited by a prostitute
The young man was caught soliciting in the park