n. [ Bill + hook. ] A thick, heavy knife with a hooked point, used in pruning hedges, etc. When it has a short handle, it is sometimes called a hand bill; when the handle is long, a hedge bill or scimiter. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Naut.) A thick piece of timber in the form of a knee, placed across the stem of a ship to strengthen the fore part and unite the bows on each side. Totten. [ 1913 Webster ]

A device consisting of a short rope with flat hooks at each end, for hoisting casks or barrels by the ends of the staves. [ 1913 Webster ]

A wooden lever with a movable iron hook. hear the end; -- used for canting or turning over heavy logs, etc. [ U. S. ] Bartlett. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A hook for catching fish. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Naut.) A hook with a pendant, to the end of which the fish-tackle is hooked. Dana. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Naut.) See Futtock. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Naut.) A piece of timber placed across the stem, to unite the bows and strengthen the fore part of the ship; a breast hook. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. hok, AS. hōc; cf. D. haak, G. hake, haken, OHG. hāko, hāgo, hāggo, Icel. haki, Sw. hake, Dan. hage. Cf. Arquebuse, Hagbut, Hake, Hatch a half door, Heckle. ] 1. A piece of metal, or other hard material, formed or bent into a curve or at an angle, for catching, holding, or sustaining anything; as, a hook for catching fish; a hook for fastening a gate; a boat hook, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. That part of a hinge which is fixed to a post, and on which a door or gate hangs and turns. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. An implement for cutting grass or grain; a sickle; an instrument for cutting or lopping; a billhook. [ 1913 Webster ]

Like slashing Bentley with his desperate hook. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Steam Engin.) See Eccentric, and V-hook. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A snare; a trap. [ R. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A field sown two years in succession. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

7. pl. The projecting points of the thigh bones of cattle; -- called also hook bones. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Geog.) A spit or narrow cape of sand or gravel turned landward at the outer end; as, Sandy Hook in New Jersey. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

9. (Sports) The curving motion of a ball, as in bowling or baseball, curving away from the hand which threw the ball; in golf, a curving motion in the direction of the golfer who struck the ball. [ PJC ]

10. (Computers) A procedure within the encoding of a computer program which allows the user to modify the program so as to import data from or export data to other programs. [ PJC ]

By hook or by crook, one way or other; by any means, direct or indirect. Milton. “In hope her to attain by hook or crook.” Spenser. --
Off the hook, freed from some obligation or difficulty; as, to get off the hook by getting someone else to do the job. [ Colloq. ] --
Off the hooks, unhinged; disturbed; disordered. [ Colloq. ] “In the evening, by water, to the Duke of Albemarle, whom I found mightly off the hooks that the ships are not gone out of the river.” Pepys. --
On one's own hook, on one's own account or responsibility; by one's self. [ Colloq. U.S. ] Bartlett. --
To go off the hooks, to die. [ Colloq. ] Thackeray. --
Bid hook, a small boat hook. --
Chain hook. See under Chain. --
Deck hook, a horizontal knee or frame, in the bow of a ship, on which the forward part of the deck rests. --
Hook and eye, one of the small wire hooks and loops for fastening together the opposite edges of a garment, etc. --
Hook bill (Zool.), the strongly curved beak of a bird. --
Hook ladder, a ladder with hooks at the end by which it can be suspended, as from the top of a wall. --
Hook motion (Steam Engin.), a valve gear which is reversed by V hooks. --
Hook squid, any squid which has the arms furnished with hooks, instead of suckers, as in the genera Enoploteuthis and Onychteuthis. --
Hook wrench, a wrench or spanner, having a hook at the end, instead of a jaw, for turning a bolthead, nut, or coupling. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Hooked p. pr. & vb. n. Hooking. ] 1. To catch or fasten with a hook or hooks; to seize, capture, or hold, as with a hook, esp. with a disguised or baited hook; hence, to secure by allurement or artifice; to entrap; to catch; as, to hook a dress; to hook a trout. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hook him, my poor dear, . . . at any sacrifice. W. Collins. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To seize or pierce with the points of the horns, as cattle in attacking enemies; to gore. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To steal. [ Colloq. Eng. & U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

To hook on, to fasten or attach by, or as by, hook. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To bend; to curve as a hook. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To move or go with a sudden turn; hence [ Slang or Prov. Eng. ], to make off; to clear out; -- often with it. “Duncan was wounded, and the escort hooked it.” Kipling. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Per. or Ar. huqqa a round box or casket, a bottle through which the fumes pass when smoking tobacco. ] A pipe with a long, flexible stem, so arranged that the smoke is cooled by being made to pass through water. Also called narghile and water pipe. The hubble-bubble is a simple form of this device. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

n. A firefighting truck equipped with a ladder extendable to great length, for access to the upper stories of buildings; it also carries other firefighting equipment; called also ladder truck. [ PJC ]

n. A company of firefighters who operate a hook-and-ladder truck; a fire company; called also ladder company. [ PJC ]

a. (Zool.) Having a strongly curved bill. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Having the form of a hook; curvated; as, the hooked bill of a bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Provided with a hook or hooks. “The hooked chariot.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The state of being bent like a hook; incurvation. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, hooks. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Naut.) (a) A Dutch vessel with two masts. (b) A fishing boat with one mast, used on the coast of Ireland. (c) A sailor's contemptuous term for any antiquated craft. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ So called from the inventor. ] (Mach.) Spur gearing having teeth slanting across the face of the wheel, sometimes slanting in opposite directions from the middle. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ So called from the inventor. ] (Mach.) A universal joint. See under Universal. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. See Hockey. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Same as hooky, n.. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A little hook. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having a hooked or aquiline nose. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Full of hooks; pertaining to hooks. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Written also hookey. ] [ Cf. Hook, v. t., 3. ] A word used only in the expression to play hooky, to be truant, to run away; -- used mostly of youths absent from school without a valid reason and without the knowledge of their parents. Also (figuratively and jocosely), to be absent from duty for frivolous reasons. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC ]

This talk about boys . . . playing ball, and “hooky, ” and marbles, was all moonshine. F. Hopkinson Smith. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

pos>n. (Whaling) A hook for holding the blubber while cutting it away. [ Written also cranging hook. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A hook at the end of a pole to pull down boughs for gathering the nuts. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A thief who steals by means of a hook; also, a bailiff who hooks or seizes malefactors. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

pred. adj. No longer considered responsible; as, Jack admitted breaking the vase, so Jill is off the hook. Used in various situations, with reference to responsibility to perform an action, or guilt for some misdeed. [ PJC ]

n. (Naut.) One of the iron hooks to which the port hinges are attached. J. Knowles. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. An S-shaped hook on which pots and kettles are hung over an open fire. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A written character curved like a pothook; (pl.) a scrawled writing. “I long to be spelling her Arabic scrawls and pothooks.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Shipbuilding) A tool, hooked at the end, for enlarging or clearing seams for the reception of oakum. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A hook fastened to pole, by which shepherds lay hold on the legs or necks of their sheep; a shepherd's crook. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

imp. & obs. or poet. p. p. of Shake. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. Shock a bundle of sheaves. ] (Com.) (a) A set of staves and headings sufficient in number for one hogshead, cask, barrel, or the like, trimmed, and bound together in compact form. (b) A set of boards for a sugar box. (c) The parts of a piece of house furniture, as a bedstead, packed together. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To pack, as staves, in a shook. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ 1st pref. un- + hook. ] To loose from a hook; to undo or open by loosening or unfastening the hooks of; as, to unhook a fish; to unhook a dress. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Steam Engine) A gab at the end of an eccentric rod, with long jaws, shaped like the letter V. [ 1913 Webster ]