• Crook

    Pronunciation

    • IPA: /kɹʊk/
    • Rhymes: -ÊŠk

    Origin 1

    From Middle English croke, crok, from Old English *crōc ("hook, bend, crook"), from Proto-Germanic *krōkaz ("bend, hook"), from Proto-Indo-European *greg- ("tracery, basket, bend"). Cognate with Dutch kreuk ("a bend, fold, wrinkle"), Middle Low German kroke, krake ("fold, wrinkle"), Danish krog ("crook, hook"), Swedish krok ("crook, hook"), Icelandic krókur ("hook").

    Full definition of crook

    Noun

    crook

    (plural crooks)
    1. A bend; turn; curve; curvature; a flexure.She held the baby in the crook of her arm.
      • Phaerthrough lanes, and crooks, and darkness
    2. A bending of the knee; a genuflection.
    3. A bent or curved part; a curving piece or portion (of anything).the crook of a cane
      • 1907, w, The Younger Set Chapter 1/2, It was flood-tide along Fifth Avenue ; motor, brougham, and victoria swept by on the glittering current ; … ; young men …, silk-hatted, frock-coated, the crooks of their walking sticks tucked up under their left arms, passed on the Park side.
    4. (obsolete) A lock or curl of hair.
    5. (obsolete) A gibbet.
    6. (obsolete) A support beam consisting of a post with a cross-beam resting upon it; a bracket or truss consisting of a vertical piece, a horizontal piece, and a strut.
    7. A shepherd's crook; a staff with a semi-circular bend ("hook") at one end used by shepherds.
      • 1970, The New English Bible with the Apocrypha, Oxford Study Edition, published 1976, Oxford University Press, Psalms 23-4, page 583:Even though I walk through a
        valley dark as death
        I fear no evil, for thou art with me,
        thy staff and thy crook are my
        comfort.
    8. A bishop's staff of office.
    9. An artifice; a trick; a contrivance.
      • Cranmerfor all your brags, hooks, and crooks
    10. A person who steals, lies, cheats or does other dishonest or illegal things; a criminal.
    11. A pothook.
      • Sir Walter Scottas black as the crook
    12. (music) A small tube, usually curved, applied to a trumpet, horn, etc., to change its pitch or key.

    Synonyms

    • (criminal) See

    Derived terms

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To bend.He crooked his finger toward me.
      • ShakespeareCrook the pregnant hinges of the knee.
      • 1917, Leo Tolstoy, (translator), Part 4, Chapter 5,“...In the following cases: physical defect in the married parties, desertion without communication for five years,” he said, crooking a short finger covered with hair....
    2. To turn from the path of rectitude; to pervert; to misapply; to twist.
      • AschamThere is no one thing that crooks youth more than such unlawful games.
      • Francis BaconWhatsoever affairs pass such a man's hands, he crooketh them to his own ends.

    Derived terms

    Origin 2

    From crooked ("dishonestly come by").

    Australian National Dictionary Centre Home » Australian words » Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms » C

    Adjective

    crook

    1. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) Bad, unsatisfactory, not up to standard.That work you did on my car is crook, mateNot turning up for training was pretty crook.Things are crook at Tallarook.
    2. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) Ill, sick.I′m feeling a bit crook.
    3. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) Annoyed, angry; upset.be crook at/about; go crook at

    Derived terms

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