From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Hook \Hook\ (h[oo^]k; 277), 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.
[1913 Webster]
2. That part of a hinge which is fixed to a post, and on
which a door or gate hangs and turns.
[1913 Webster]
3. An implement for cutting grass or grain; a sickle; an
instrument for cutting or lopping; a billhook.
[1913 Webster]
Like slashing Bentley with his desperate hook.
--Pope.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Steam Engin.) See Eccentric, and V-hook.
[1913 Webster]
5. A snare; a trap. [R.] --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
6. A field sown two years in succession. [Prov. Eng.]
[1913 Webster]
7. pl. The projecting points of the thigh bones of cattle; --
called also hook bones.
[1913 Webster]
8. (Geog.) A spit or narrow cape of sand or gravel turned
landward at the outer end; as, Sandy Hook in New Jersey.
[Webster 1913 Suppl. +PJC]
9. (Sports) The curving motion of a ball, as in bowling or
baseball, curving away from the hand which threw the ball;
in golf, a curving motion in the direction of the golfer
who struck the ball.
[PJC]
10. (Computers) A procedure within the encoding of a computer
program which allows the user to modify the program so as
to import data from or export data to other programs.
[PJC]
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 hook, freed from some obligation or difficulty; as,
to get off the hook by getting someone else to do the job.
[Colloq.]
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.
On one's own hook, on one's own account or responsibility;
by one's self. [Colloq. U.S.] --Bartlett.
To go off the hooks, to die. [Colloq.] --Thackeray.
Bid hook, a small boat hook.
Chain hook. See under Chain.
Deck hook, a horizontal knee or frame, in the bow of a
ship, on which the forward part of the deck rests.
Hook and eye, one of the small wire hooks and loops for
fastening together the opposite edges of a garment, etc.
Hook bill (Zool.), the strongly curved beak of a bird.
Hook ladder, a ladder with hooks at the end by which it can
be suspended, as from the top of a wall.
Hook motion (Steam Engin.), a valve gear which is reversed
by V hooks.
Hook squid, any squid which has the arms furnished with
hooks, instead of suckers, as in the genera
Enoploteuthis and Onychteuthis.
Hook wrench, a wrench or spanner, having a hook at the end,
instead of a jaw, for turning a bolthead, nut, or
coupling.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Hook \Hook\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Hooked; p. pr. & vb. n.
Hooking.]
1. To catch or fasten with a hook or hooks; to seize,
capture, or hold, as with a hook, esp. with a disguised or
baited hook; hence, to secure by allurement or artifice;
to entrap; to catch; as, to hook a dress; to hook a trout.
[1913 Webster]
Hook him, my poor dear, . . . at any sacrifice. --W.
Collins.
[1913 Webster]
2. To seize or pierce with the points of the horns, as cattle
in attacking enemies; to gore.
[1913 Webster]
3. To steal. [Colloq. Eng. & U.S.]
[1913 Webster]
To hook on, to fasten or attach by, or as by, hook.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Hook \Hook\, v. i.
1. To bend; to curve as a hook.
[1913 Webster]
2. To move or go with a sudden turn; hence [Slang or Prov.
Eng.], to make off; to clear out; -- often with it.
"Duncan was wounded, and the escort hooked it." --Kipling.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]