- 1 a curved piece of metal, plastic or wire for hanging things on, catching fish with, etc. a picture/curtain/coat hook a fish hook Hang your towel on the hook. The key was hanging from a hook. Your coat’s hanging on a hook behind the door. Wordfinderfishingbait, bite, dragnet, fishing, fly, hook, line, net, rod, trawl see also boathook
- 2(in boxing) a short hard blow that is made with the elbow bent a left hook to the jaw
- 3(in cricket and golf) a way of hitting the ball so that it curves sideways instead of going straight ahead See related entries: Cricket, Golf
- 4a thing that is used to make people interested in something The images are used as a hook to get children interested in science. Well-chosen quotations can serve as a hook to catch the reader’s interest. See related entries: Showing interest Word OriginOld English hōc, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoek ‘corner, angle, projecting piece of land’, also to German Haken ‘hook’.Idioms
using any method you can, even a dishonest one
to free yourself or somebody else from a difficult situation or a punishment
completely What I said was not true, but he fell for it (= believed it) hook, line and sinker.
if you leave or take the telephone off the hook, you take the receiver (= the part that you pick up) off the place where it usually rests, so that nobody can call you See related entries: Making calls
(usually used in the progressive tenses) (of a telephone) to ring many times The phone has been ringing off the hook with offers of help.
(British English, informal) (used especially in orders) to go away
Check pronunciation: hook
