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Crook

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crook¹

  • /kɹʊk/ Australia, US, UK
  • [kɹ̠̊˔ʷʊk] Australia, US, UK
  • /kɹɵk/ British, Southern, Standard
  • [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɵk] ~ [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɘk] British, Southern, Standard
  • /kɹʊk/ New Zealand
  • [kɹ̠̊˔ʷʊk] ~ [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɵk] ~ [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɨ̞k] New Zealand
  • /kɾʊk/ Wales
  • /kɾʉk/ Scotland
  • /kɻʉk/ Northern Ireland
  • /kɹuːk/ obsolete

Rhymes with -ʊk

Where it comes from

From Middle English croke, crok, from Old English *crōc (“hook, bend, crook”), from Proto-West Germanic *krōk, 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”).

Compare typologically Czech křivák (< křivý < Proto-Slavic *krivъ, whence also *krivьda).

noun crooks

  1. A bend; turn; curve; curvature; a flexure. She held the baby in the crook of her arm.
  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
  4. A person who steals, lies, cheats, or does other dishonest or illegal things; a criminal; a scoundrel, scofflaw, lawbreaker, rogue, or miscreant. In these early days of silent pictures, the accent was chiefly on thrills and danger as provided by supposedly unstoppable locomotives with crooks or maniacs on the footplate.
  5. obsolete A lock or curl of hair.
  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 specialized staff with a semi-circular bend (a "hook") at one end used by shepherds to control their herds. 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 standard staff of office.
  9. An artifice; a trick; a contrivance. for all your brags, hooks, and crooks
  10. A pothook.
  11. A small tube, usually curved, applied to a trumpet, horn, etc., to change its pitch or key.

crook²

  • /kɹʊk/ Australia, US, UK
  • [kɹ̠̊˔ʷʊk] Australia, US, UK
  • /kɹɵk/ British, Southern, Standard
  • [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɵk] ~ [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɘk] British, Southern, Standard
  • /kɹʊk/ New Zealand
  • [kɹ̠̊˔ʷʊk] ~ [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɵk] ~ [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɨ̞k] New Zealand
  • /kɾʊk/ Wales
  • /kɾʉk/ Scotland
  • /kɻʉk/ Northern Ireland
  • /kɹuːk/ obsolete

Rhymes with -ʊk

Where it comes from

From Middle English crooken, croken, crokien, from Old English *crōcian, from Proto-West Germanic *krōkōn (“to bend, wrinkle”), from the noun (see above). Cognate with Dutch kreuken (“to crease, rumple”), German Low German kröken (“to bend, offend, suppress”).

verb crooks · crooking · crooked

  1. transitive To bend, or form into a hook. He crooked his finger toward me.
  2. intransitive To become bent or hooked.
  3. To turn from the path of rectitude; to pervert; to misapply; to twist. For the foundation of youthe well ſet (as Plato doth ſaye) the whole bodye of the common wealthe ſhall flouriſhe thereafter. If the younge tree growe croked, when it is oulde, a man ſhall rather breake it than ſtreight it. And I thincke there is no one thinge that crokes youthe more then ſuch unlawf

crook³

  • /kɹʊk/ Australia, US, UK
  • [kɹ̠̊˔ʷʊk] Australia, US, UK
  • /kɹɵk/ British, Southern, Standard
  • [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɵk] ~ [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɘk] British, Southern, Standard
  • /kɹʊk/ New Zealand
  • [kɹ̠̊˔ʷʊk] ~ [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɵk] ~ [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɨ̞k] New Zealand
  • /kɾʊk/ Wales
  • /kɾʉk/ Scotland
  • /kɻʉk/ Northern Ireland
  • /kɹuːk/ obsolete

Rhymes with -ʊk

Where it comes from

From crooked (“dishonestly come by”).

adjective crooker · crookest

  1. Australia, New Zealand, slang Bad, unsatisfactory, not up to standard. That work you did on my car is crook, mate.
  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

Crook⁴

Where it comes from

* The English surname is derived from the noun crook (“bend, hook”).

* The places in Durham and Cumbria are of Brythonic origin, from crug (“hill, mound”).

proper noun

  1. A town (unparished) in County Durham, England (OS grid ref NZ1635).
  2. A village and civil parish (served by Crook and Winster Parish Council) in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England, previously in South Lakeland district (OS grid ref SD4695).
  3. A statutory town in Logan County, Colorado, United States, named after George Crook.
  4. An unincorporated community in Osage County, Missouri, United States, so named because of a local merchant's business practices (thus being derived from crook (thief)).
  5. A surname.

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