off the hook

Slang Dictionary

hook definition


  1. tv.
    to cheat someone. : Watch the clerk in that store. He might try to hook you.
  2. tv.
    to steal something. : Lefty hooked a couple of candy bars just for the hell of it.
  3. tv.
    to addict someone (to something). (Not necessarily drugs.) : The constant use of bicarb hooked him to the stuff.
  4. n.
    the grade of C. : I didn't study at all and I still got a hook!
  5. tv.
    to earn or pull the grade of C on something in school. : History? I hooked it without any trouble.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Slang Dictionary

off the hook definition


  1. mod.
    no longer in jeopardy; no longer obligated. : I'll let you off the hook this time, but never again.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

off the hook

Also, get or let off the hook. Released (or be released) from blame or annoying obligation, as in He was out of town during the robbery so he was off the book, or I don't know how the muggers got off the hook, or Once they found the real culprit, they let Mary off the hook. This idiom alludes to the fish that manages to free itself from the angler's hook and get away. [Mid-1800s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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