off hook
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.
a.
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.
b.
a ball describing such a path.
11.
Boxing. a short, circular punch delivered with the elbow bent.
12.
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.
00:10
Off hook
is always a great word to know.
So is lollapalooza. Does it mean:
| an extraordinary or unusual thing, person, or event; an exceptional example or instance. |
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
verb (used without object)
Verb phrases 28.
to become attached or fastened by or as if by a hook.
29.
to curve or bend like a hook.
30.
Sports.
a.
(of a player) to hook the ball.
b.
(of a ball) to describe a hook in course.
31.
Slang. to depart hastily: We'd better hook for home.
32.
Idioms hook up,
a.
to fasten with a hook or hooks.
b.
to assemble or connect, as the components of a machine: to hook up a stereo system.
c.
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.
d.
Informal. to join, meet, or become associated with: He never had a decent job until he hooked up with this company.
e.
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.
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,
a.
out of trouble; released from some difficulty: This time there was no one around to get him off the hook.
b.
free of obligation: Her brother paid all her bills and got her off the hook.
c.
Slang. extremely or shockingly excellent: Wow, that song is off the hook!
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
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
hook·less, adjective
hook·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source
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Link To off hook
Collins
World English Dictionary
hook (hʊk) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 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. | chiefly (US) something that attracts or is intended to be an attraction |
| 5. | something resembling a hook in design or use |
| 6. | a. a sharp bend or angle in a geological formation, esp a river |
| b. 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. | ice hockey 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. | slang (US), (Canadian) 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 |
| a. slang out of danger; free from obligation or guilt | |
| b. (of a telephone receiver) not on the support, so that incoming calls cannot be received | |
| 20. | slang chiefly (US) on one's own hook on one's own initiative |
| 21. | slang on the hook |
| a. waiting | |
| b. in a dangerous or difficult situation | |
| 22. | slang (Brit) sling one's hook to leave |
| —vb (often foll by down) | |
| 23. | ( |
| 24. | (tr) to catch (something, such as a fish) on a hook |
| 25. | to curve like or into the shape of a hook |
| 26. | (tr) (of bulls, elks, etc) to catch or gore with the horns |
| 27. | (tr) to make (a rug) by hooking yarn through a stiff fabric backing with a special instrument |
| 28. | to cut (grass or herbage) with a sickle: to hook down weeds |
| 29. | boxing to hit (an opponent) with a hook |
| 30. | ice hockey 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. | informal (tr) to trick |
| 35. | (tr) a slang word for steal |
| 36. | slang hook it to run or go quickly away |
| [Old English hōc; related to Middle Dutch hōk, Old Norse haki] | |
| 'hookless | |
| —adj | |
| 'hooklike | |
| —adj | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
hook
O.E. hoc, perhaps related to O.E. haca "bolt," from P.Gmc. *khokaz/*khakan- (cf. Du. haak, Ger. Haken "hook"), from PIE *keg- "bent object" (cf. Rus. kogot "claw"). For spelling, see hood. Boxing sense of "short, swinging blow with the elbow bent" is from 1898. Fig. sense was in M.E. (see
hooker); hooked "addicted" is from 1925, originally in ref. to narcotics. By hook or by crook (c.1380) probably alludes to tools of professional thieves. Hook, line, and sinker "completely" is 1838, a metaphor from angling.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary
hook definition
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Easton
Bible Dictionary
Hook definition
(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.
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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