hook
IPA: hˈʊk
noun
- A rod bent into a curved shape, typically with one end free and the other end secured to a rope or other attachment.
- A barbed metal hook used for fishing; a fishhook.
- Any of various hook-shaped agricultural implements such as a billhook.
- 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.
- An advantageous hold.
- (in the plural) The projecting points of the thighbones of cattle; called also hook bones.
- (informal) Removal or expulsion from a group or activity.
- (agriculture) A field sown two years in succession.
- (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.
- (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.
- (bridge, slang) A finesse.
- (card games, slang) A jack (the playing card).
- (geography) A spit or narrow cape of sand or gravel turned landward at the outer end, such as Sandy Hook in New Jersey.
- (music) A catchy musical phrase which forms the basis of a popular song.
- (nautical, informal) A ship's anchor.
- (programming) Part of a system's operation that can be intercepted to change or augment its behaviour.
- (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.
- (typography) A diacritical mark shaped like the upper part of a question mark, as in ỏ.
- (typography, rare) A háček.
- Senses relating to sports.
- (baseball) A curveball.
- (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.
- (bowling) A ball that is rolled in a curved line.
- (boxing) a type of punch delivered with the arm rigid and partially bent and the fist travelling nearly horizontally mesially along an arc
- (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.
- (golf) A golf shot that (for the right-handed player) curves unintentionally to the left. (See draw, slice, fade.)
- (Canada, Australia, military) Any of the chevrons denoting rank.
- (slang) A prostitute.
- (UK, slang, obsolete) A pickpocket.
- (surfing) Synonym of shoulder (“the part of a wave that has not yet broken”)
- (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.
- A surname.
- A number of places in the United Kingdom:
- A hamlet in Chardstock parish, East Devon district, Devon, England (OS grid ref ST3005).
- A village near Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, England.
- A suburb in the borough of Kingston upon Thames, Greater London, England (OS grid ref TQ1865).
- A large village and civil parish in Hart district, Hampshire, England (OS grid ref SU7254).
- A village in Fareham borough, Hampshire, England.
- A village near Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, England.
- A village in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
- A rural locality in South Canterbury, Canterbury, New Zealand, on the Hook River.
- The amount of spin placed on a bowling ball.
verb
- (transitive) To attach a hook to.
- (transitive) To catch with a hook (hook a fish).
- (transitive) To work yarn into a fabric using a hook; to crochet.
- (transitive) To insert in a curved way reminiscent of a hook.
- (transitive) To ensnare or obligate someone, as if with a hook.
- (UK, US, slang, archaic) To steal.
- (transitive) To connect (hook into, hook together).
- (usually in passive) To make addicted; to captivate.
- (cricket, golf, basketball) To play a hook shot.
- (rugby) To succeed in heeling the ball back out of a scrum (used particularly of the team's designated hooker).
- (field hockey, ice hockey) To engage in the illegal maneuver of hooking (i.e., using the hockey stick to trip or block another player)
- (soccer, bowling) To swerve a ball; kick or throw a ball so it swerves or bends.
- (intransitive, slang) To engage in prostitution.
- (Scrabble) To play a word perpendicular to another word by adding a single letter to the existing word.
- (bridge, slang) To finesse.
- (transitive) To seize or pierce with the points of the horns, as cattle in attacking enemies; to gore.
- (intransitive) To bend; to be curved.
- (intransitive) To move or go with a sudden turn.
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Examples of "hook" in Sentences
- The gaff serves as a boat hook.
- The ends of the hooks are serrated.
- The strings are hooked to the pins.
- A metal hook was found in the cranium.
- Ruthless hooks the shark in the cherub.
- The play was excursive and off the hook.
- The pharyngeal teeth are long and hooked.
- The hooks nag, the choruses are explosive.
- The hook is located at the bottom of the rib.
- At the end of the episode, the two hooked up.
- And then right in through there, that's what we call a hook echo.
- In Holloway-speak, landing a left hook translates as keeping faith with core principles.
- What may get the comic off the hook is the fact that the comic exists in a different format (i.e. - books/comics) than the band (music).
- I think the only way to get myself off the hook is actually to pick up the hook and promise to learn to crochet this year, she's already bought me the hook and the book.
- The effort to say that Imus should not be so badly treated if blacks who have made similar statements about black women are let off the hook is a product of the first America.
- So the main hook is that you have this kid born into a working class family of petty criminals but against all odds, manages to become the greatest hero the world has seen and fight the good fight.
- Your use of the term hook which applies specifically to the opening paragraph of a book mislead me a little; you are talking about setting up a pitch appointment, not submitting pages in advance of such an appointment.
- The double-line pull uses a snatch block (also known as a pulley block) to run the wire rope out to an anchor and then double it back to the vehicle, where the hook is attached to the frame -- not the bumper, winch, or any part of the suspension.
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