Crook (kr??k), n. [OE. crok; akin to Icel. krk hook,bend, SW. krok, Dan. krog, OD. krooke; or cf. Gael. crecan crook, hook, W. crwca crooked. Cf. Crosier, Crotchet, Crutch, Encroach.]

1.

A bend, turn, or curve; curvature; flexure.

Through lanes, and crooks, and darkness. Phaer.

2.

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.

3.

A pothook.

"As black as the crook."

Sir W. Scott.

4.

An artifice; trick; tricky device; subterfuge.

For all yuor brags, hooks, and crooks. Cranmer.

5. Mus.

A small tube, usually curved, applied to a trumpet, horn, etc., to change its pitch or key.

6.

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.

 

© Webster 1913.


Crook (kr??k), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Crooked (kr??kt); p. pr. & vb. n. Crooking.] [OE. croken; cf. Sw. krka, Dan. krge. See Crook, n.]

1.

To turn from a straight line; to bend; to curve.

Crook the pregnant hinges of the knee. Shak.

2.

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.

 

© Webster 1913.


Crook, v. i.

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.

 

© Webster 1913.

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