crook

Definitions

1. 1.Any implement having a bent or crooked end. Especially: (a) The staff used by a shepherd, the hook of which serves to hold a runaway sheep. (b) A bishop's staff of office. Cf. Pastoral stafu. He left his crook, he left his flocks. Prior.
2. 2.A pothook. "As black as the crook." Sir W. Scott.
3. 3.An artifice; trick; tricky device; subterfuge. For all yuor brags, hooks, and crooks. Cranmer.
4. 4.(Mus.) A small tube, usually curved, applied to a trumpet, horn, etc., to change its pitch or key.
5. 5.A person given to fraudulent practices; an accomplice of thieves, forgers, etc. [Cant, U.S.] By hook or by crook, in some way or other; by fair means or foul.
6. 6.To turn from a straight line; to bend; to curve. Crook the pregnant hinges of the knee. Shak.
7. 7.To turn from the path of rectitude; to pervert; to misapply; to twist. [Archaic] There is no one thing that crooks youth more than such unlawfull games. Ascham. What soever affairs pass such a man's hands, he crooketh them to his own ends. Bacon.
8. 8.To bend; to curve; to wind; to have a curvature. " The port . . . crooketh like a bow." Phaer. Their shoes and pattens are snouted, and piked more than a finger long, crooking upwards. Camden.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

Synonyms

Related questions

• What does "crook" mean?
• What is another word for "crook"?

Reverse-dictionary questions

Definition-first questions whose answer is crook.

• What is a pothook. "As black as the crook." Sir W. Scott called?
• What is an artifice; trick; tricky device; subterfuge. For all yuor brags, hooks, and crooks. Cranmer called?
• What is a small tube, usually curved, applied to a trumpet, horn, etc., to change its pitch or key called?
• What is a person given to fraudulent practices; an accomplice of thieves, forgers, etc. [Cant, U.S.] By hook or by crook, in some way or other; by fair means or foul called?
• What is to turn from a straight line; to bend; to curve. Crook the pregnant hinges of the knee. Shak called?
• What is to bend; to curve; to wind; to have a curvature. " The port . . . crooketh like a bow." Phaer. Their shoes and pattens are snouted, and piked more than a finger long, crooking upwards. Camden called?