Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Hook \Hook\, n. [OE. hok, AS. h[=o]c; cf. D. haak, G. hake,
   haken, OHG. h[=a]ko, h[=a]go, h[=a]ggo, Icel. haki, Sw. hake,
   Dan. hage. Cf. {Arquebuse}, {Hagbut}, {Hake}, {Hatch} a half
   door, {Heckle}.]
   1. A piece of metal, or other hard material, formed or bent
      into a curve or at an angle, for catching, holding, or
      sustaining anything; as, a hook for catching fish; a hook
      for fastening a gate; a boat hook, etc.

   2. That part of a hinge which is fixed to a post, and on
      which a door or gate hangs and turns.

   3. An implement for cutting grass or grain; a sickle; an
      instrument for cutting or lopping; a billhook.

            Like slashing Bentley with his desperate hook.
                                                  --Pope.

   4. (Steam Engin.) See {Eccentric}, and {V-hook}.

   5. A snare; a trap. [R.] --Shak.

   6. A field sown two years in succession. [Prov. Eng.]

   7. pl. The projecting points of the thigh bones of cattle; --
      called also {hook bones}.

   {By hook or by crook}, one way or other; by any means, direct
      or indirect. --Milton. ``In hope her to attain by hook or
      crook.'' --Spenser.

   {Off the hooks}, unhinged; disturbed; disordered. [Colloq.]
      ``In the evening, by water, to the Duke of Albemarle, whom
      I found mightly off the hooks that the ships are not gone
      out of the river.'' --Pepys.