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 fisherman cast his line, hoping to hook a big catch
- He knew he had her hooked when she couldn't stop laughing at his jokes
- The catchy chorus of the song was the perfect hook to reel in listeners
- She felt a sharp pain as the fishhook dug into her finger
- The movie had a surprising twist at the end that really hooked me
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