hook

Pronunciation

• IPA: /hʊk/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English hok, inherited from Old English hōc (“hook, angle”),^[2][3][4] found before 700 in the compound wēodhōc “weed hook”,^[3] from Proto-Germanic *hōkaz.^[3] It corresponds to Old Frisian hōk “corner, edge” and Middle Dutch hoec (Dutch hoek “corner, angle”),^[3][4][5] and is perhaps related to Old English haca “bolt”, Old High German hāko (German Haken) and Old Norse haki “hook”.^[2][3][4] Barnhart and Etymonline trace it to the PIE root Proto-Indo-European *keg- (“hook, tooth”), which also gave Russian kógot' “claw”.^[3][2] The spelling hook, first recorded about 1440, parallels hoof.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bent piece of metal or other material for catching, holding or hanging something: about 900 in the OED.^[6] The fishhook is from about 950, and a reaping hook or sickle is recorded before 700.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense, something that catches or ensnares, is from the early 15th century, 1430–40 in the OED.^[2][6] A projecting point of land is from the 1670s, and in American use was probably reinforced by Dutch hoek.^[2] The verb, first “to bend like a hook” (about 1200), came to mean catching a fish with a hook about 1300 and fastening with hooks in the 1610s;^[2] hooked on, addicted or captivated, is slang from 1925.^[6] The boxing blow is from 1898, and the holder for a telephone receiver from 1885.^[2] In slang the noun has meant the fingers or hands since the 17th century, and the verb to steal since 1614.^[7] Off the hook and hook, line, and sinker are both mid-19th-century.^[8] In Scots and northern dialect to hook it means to run away.^[9][6]

Timeline

• before 700 – wēodhōc, a weed hook.^[3]
• c. 900 – a hook for catching or hanging.^[6]
• c. 1200 – the verb, to bend like a hook.^[2]
• 1430–40 – a snare, figuratively.^[6]
• 1670s – a projecting point of land.^[2]
• 1885 – a telephone hook.^[2]
• 1898 – a hook in boxing.^[2]
• 1925 – hooked, addicted.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A bent or curved piece of metal or other material for catching, holding or hanging things; a fishhook.
2. Something that attracts interest, such as a catchy part of a song.
3. A sharp bend, or a curved spit of land.
4. In boxing, a short swinging blow made with the elbow bent.
5. In golf and other ball games, a shot that curves away to one side.

Verb

1. To catch, fasten or hang with a hook.
2. To attract and hold the interest of.
3. (slang) To make addicted.
4. To make a rug by pulling yarn through canvas with a hook.
5. To hit a ball so that it curves to one side.

Word family

• hookless
• hooklike
• hooker
• hook up

Related words

• hook-up
• hookah

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
8. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)