hook1

[hoo k] /hʊk/
noun
1.
a curved or angular piece of metal or other hard substance for catching, pulling, holding, or suspending something.
2.
a fishhook.
3.
anything that catches; snare; trap.
4.
something that attracts attention or serves as an enticement:
The product is good but we need a sales hook to get people to buy it.
5.
something having a sharp curve, bend, or angle at one end, as a mark or symbol.
6.
a sharp curve or angle in the length or course of anything.
7.
a curved arm of land jutting into the water; a curved peninsula:
Sandy Hook.
8.
a recurved and pointed organ or appendage of an animal or plant.
9.
a small curved catch inserted into a loop to form a clothes fastener.
10.
Sports.
  1. the path described by a ball, as in baseball, bowling, or golf, that curves in a direction opposite to the throwing hand or to the side of the ball from which it was struck.
  2. a ball describing such a path.
11.
Boxing. a short, circular punch delivered with the elbow bent.
12.
Music.
  1. Also called pennant. a stroke or line attached to the stem of eighth notes, sixteenth notes, etc.
  2. an appealing melodic phrase, orchestral ornament, refrain, etc., often important to a popular song's commercial success.
13.
Metalworking. an accidental short bend formed in a piece of bar stock during rolling.
14.
hooks, Slang. hands or fingers:
Get your hooks off that cake!
15.
Underworld Slang. a pickpocket.
16.
Also called deck hook. Nautical. a triangular plate or knee that binds together the stringers and plating at each end of a vessel.
verb (used with object)
17.
to seize, fasten, suspend from, pierce, or catch hold of and draw with or as if with a hook.
18.
to catch (fish) with a fishhook.
19.
Slang. to steal or seize by stealth.
20.
Informal. to catch or trick by artifice; snare.
21.
(of a bull or other horned animal) to catch on the horns or attack with the horns.
22.
to catch hold of and draw (loops of yarn) through cloth with or as if with a hook.
23.
to make (a rug, garment, etc.) in this fashion.
24.
Sports. to hit or throw (a ball) so that a hook results.
25.
Boxing. to deliver a hook with:
The champion hooked a right to his opponent's jaw.
26.
Rugby. to push (a ball) backward with the foot in scrummage from the front line.
27.
to make hook-shaped; crook.
verb (used without object)
28.
to become attached or fastened by or as if by a hook.
29.
to curve or bend like a hook.
30.
Sports.
  1. (of a player) to hook the ball.
  2. (of a ball) to describe a hook in course.
31.
Slang. to depart hastily:
We'd better hook for home.
Verb phrases
32.
hook up,
  1. to fasten with a hook or hooks.
  2. to assemble or connect, as the components of a machine:
    to hook up a stereo system.
  3. to connect to a central source, as of power or water:
    The house hasn't been hooked up to the city's water system yet.
  4. Informal. to join, meet, or become associated with:
    He never had a decent job until he hooked up with this company.
  5. Informal. to have casual sex or a romantic date without a long-term commitment:
    He doesn't know her very well, but he hooked up with her a couple of times.
Idioms
33.
by hook or by crook, by any means, whether just or unjust, legal or illegal.
Also, by hook or crook.
34.
get / give the hook, Informal. to receive or subject to a dismissal:
The rumor is that he got the hook.
35.
hook it, Slang. to run away; depart; flee:
He hooked it when he saw the truant officer.
36.
hook, line, and sinker, Informal. entirely; completely:
He fell for the story—hook, line, and sinker.
37.
off the hook,
  1. out of trouble; released from some difficulty:
    This time there was no one around to get him off the hook.
  2. free of obligation:
    Her brother paid all her bills and got her off the hook.
  3. Slang. extremely or shockingly excellent:
    Wow, that song is off the hook!
38.
on one's own hook, Informal. on one's own initiative or responsibility; independently.
39.
on the hook, Slang.
  1. obliged; committed; involved:
    He's already on the hook for $10,000.
  2. subjected to a delaying tactic; waiting:
    We've had him on the hook for two weeks now.
Origin
before 900; 1830-40, Americanism for def 36; Middle English hoke (noun and v.), Old English hōc (noun); cognate with Dutch hoek hook, angle, corner; akin to German Haken, Old Norse haki
Related forms
hookless, adjective
hooklike, adjective
Can be confused
penance, pennants.
British Dictionary definitions for hook, line, and sinker

hook

/hʊk/
noun
1.
a piece of material, usually metal, curved or bent and used to suspend, catch, hold, or pull something
2.
short for fish-hook
3.
a trap or snare
4.
(mainly US) something that attracts or is intended to be an attraction
5.
something resembling a hook in design or use
6.
  1. a sharp bend or angle in a geological formation, esp a river
  2. a sharply curved spit of land
7.
(boxing) a short swinging blow delivered from the side with the elbow bent
8.
(cricket) a shot in which the ball is hit square on the leg side with the bat held horizontally
9.
(golf) a shot that causes the ball to swerve sharply from right to left
10.
(surfing) the top of a breaking wave
11.
(hockey:Ice) Also called hookcheck. the act of hooking an opposing player
12.
(music) a stroke added to the stem of a written or printed note to indicate time values shorter than a crotchet
13.
a catchy musical phrase in a pop song
14.
another name for a sickle
15.
a nautical word for anchor
16.
by hook or crook, by hook or by crook, by any means
17.
(US & Canadian, slang) get the hook, to be dismissed from employment
18.
(informal) hook, line, and sinker, completely: he fell for it hook, line, and sinker
19.
off the hook
  1. (slang) out of danger; free from obligation or guilt
  2. (of a telephone receiver) not on the support, so that incoming calls cannot be received
20.
(slang, mainly US) on one's own hook, on one's own initiative
21.
(slang) on the hook
  1. waiting
  2. in a dangerous or difficult situation
22.
(Brit, slang) sling one's hook, to leave
verb
23.
(often foll by up) to fasten or be fastened with or as if with a hook or hooks
24.
(transitive) to catch (something, such as a fish) on a hook
25.
to curve like or into the shape of a hook
26.
(transitive) (of bulls, elks, etc) to catch or gore with the horns
27.
(transitive) to make (a rug) by hooking yarn through a stiff fabric backing with a special instrument
28.
(transitive) often foll by down. to cut (grass or herbage) with a sickle: to hook down weeds
29.
(boxing) to hit (an opponent) with a hook
30.
(hockey:Ice) to impede (an opposing player) by catching hold of him with the stick
31.
(golf) to play (a ball) with a hook
32.
(rugby) to obtain and pass (the ball) backwards from a scrum to a member of one's team, using the feet
33.
(cricket) to play (a ball) with a hook
34.
(transitive) (informal) to trick
35.
(transitive) a slang word for steal
36.
(slang) hook it, to run or go quickly away
See also hook-up
Derived Forms
hookless, adjective
hooklike, adjective
Word Origin
Old English hōc; related to Middle Dutch hōk, Old Norse haki
Word Origin and History for hook, line, and sinker

hook

n.

Old English hoc "hook, angle," perhaps related to Old English haca "bolt," from Proto-Germanic *hokaz/*hakan- (cf. Old Frisian hok, Middle Dutch hoek, Dutch haak, German Haken "hook"), from PIE *keg- "hook, tooth" (cf. Russian kogot "claw"). For spelling, see hood (n.1).

Boxing sense of "short, swinging blow with the elbow bent" is from 1898. Figurative sense was in Middle English (see hooker). By hook or by crook (late 14c.) probably alludes to tools of professional thieves. Hook, line, and sinker "completely" is 1838, a metaphor from angling.

v.

"to bend like a hook," c.1200; see hook (n.). Meaning "to catch (a fish) with a hook" is from c.1300. Related: Hooked; hooking.

hook, line, and sinker in Culture

hook, line, and sinker definition


To “fall for something hook, line, and sinker” is to be fooled completely. “Tom doubted that his ruse would fool anybody, but the boss fell for it hook, line, and sinker.” The reference is to fishing tackle.

Slang definitions & phrases for hook, line, and sinker

hook, line, and sinker

modifier

Totally; completely: she's got you hook, line, and sinker


hook

noun
  1. An anchor (1940s+ Nautical)
  2. A curveball (1910+ Baseball)
  3. A hypodermic needle or bent pin used for injecting a narcotic (1950s+ Narcotics)
  4. A narcotic, esp heroin (1950s+ Narcotics)
  5. A prostitute; hooker: Janie Ruth looked at the hook (1915+)
  6. Something that strongly attracts, esp something catchy in the lyrics or music of a song: The musicians push a good hook, a high, ragged guitar line/ You just won't tell me much at a time about life. It's your hook/ There are no hooks, either, like the mechanical bull or dancing (1930+)
  7. A patron; a helpful connection: Why have I been in a radio car for over twenty years? Because I don't have a hook (1980s+ Police)
  8. A grade of C (1960s+ Students)
verb
  1. To steal, esp to shoplift: Hooking merchandise from department stores requires no training (1615+)
  2. To get; find: Where can we hook a good meal around here? (1940s+)
  3. To arrest; stop and ticket: My cab driver got hooked for speeding (1920s+)
  4. To entice successfully; procure more or less against one's will: They hooked me for the main speech (1764+)
  5. To cheat; deceive •Most often in the passive voice: He got hooked into paying the whole bill (1940s+)
  6. To work as a prostitute; whore: They stress the fact that they strip and don't hook/ Carl supplemented their income by hooking from the notorious bus bench (1959+)
  7. To drink, esp quickly at a gulp: You pour a half-glass of Dewar's, hook it down and fan out the flames with a bottle of beer (1880s+)
Related Terms

buttonhook, on one's own hook, shithook, skyhook


hook, line, and sinker in the Bible

(1.) Heb. hah, a "ring" inserted in the nostrils of animals to which a cord was fastened for the purpose of restraining them (2 Kings 19:28; Isa. 37:28, 29; Ezek. 29:4; 38:4). "The Orientals make use of this contrivance for curbing their work-beasts...When a beast becomes unruly they have only to draw the cord on one side, which, by stopping his breath, punishes him so effectually that after a few repetitions he fails not to become quite tractable whenever he begins to feel it" (Michaelis). So God's agents are never beyond his control. (2.) Hakkah, a fish "hook" (Job 41:2, Heb. Text, 40:25; Isa. 19:8; Hab. 1:15). (3.) Vav, a "peg" on which the curtains of the tabernacle were hung (Ex. 26:32). (4.) Tsinnah, a fish-hooks (Amos 4:2). (5.) Mazleg, flesh-hooks (1 Sam. 2:13, 14), a kind of fork with three teeth for turning the sacrifices on the fire, etc. (6.) Mazmeroth, pruning-hooks (Isa. 2:4; Joel 3:10). (7.) 'Agmon (Job 41:2, Heb. Text 40:26), incorrectly rendered in the Authorized Version. Properly a rush-rope for binding animals, as in Revised Version margin.

Idioms and Phrases with hook, line, and sinker

hook, line, and sinker

Without reservation, completely, as in He swallowed our excuse hook, line, and sinker. This expression, first recorded in 1865, alludes to a fish swallowing not only the baited hook but the leaden sinker and the entire fishing line between them.

hook

also see: