HOOK, noun

1. A piece of iron or other metal bent into a curve for catching, holding and sustaining any thing; as a hook for catching fish; a teeter-hook; a chimney-hook; a pot-hook, etc.

2. A snare; a trap.

3. A curving instrument for cutting grass or grain; a sickle; an instrument for cutting or lopping.

4. That part of a hinge which is fixed or inserted in a post. Whence the phrase, to be off the hooks, to be unhinged, to be disturbed or disordered.

5. A forked timber in a ship, placed on the keel.

6. A catch; an advantage. [Vulgar.]

7. In husbandry, a field sown two years running. [Local.]

By hook and by crook, one way or other; by any means, direct or indirect.

HOOK, verb transitive To catch with a hook; as, to hook a fish.

1. To seize and draw, as with a hook

2. To fasten with a hook

3. To entrap; to ensnare.

4. To draw by force or artifice.

To hook on, to apply a hook

HOOK, verb intransitive To bend; to be curving.