A Quick and Simple Dictionary

hook

1. Noun.  A rod bent into a curved shape, typically with one end free and the other end secured to a rope or other attachment.
2. Noun.  A fishhook, a barbed metal hook used for fishing.
3. Noun.  Any of various hook-shaped agricultural implements such as a billhook.
4. Noun.  A loop shaped like a hook under certain written letters, e.g. ''g'' and ''j''.
5. Noun.  A catchy musical phrase which forms the basis of a popular song.
6. Noun.  A brief, punchy opening statement intended to draw the reader or viewer into a book or play.
7. Noun.  (informal) Removal or expulsion from a group or activity.
8. Noun.  (cricket) A type of shot played by swinging the bat in a horizontal arc, hitting the ball high in the air to the leg side, often played to balls which bounce around head height.
9. Noun.  (baseball) A curveball.
10. Noun.  (software) A feature, definition, or coding that enables future enhancements to happen compatibly or more easily.
11. Noun.  (golf) A golf shot that (for the right-handed player) curves unintentionally to the left. See draw, slice, fade.
12. Noun.  (basketball) A basketball shot in which the offensive player, usually turned perpendicular to the basket, gently throws the ball with a sweeping motion of his arm in an upward arc with a follow-through which ends over his head. Also called hook shot.
13. Noun.  (boxing) A type of punch delivered with the arm rigid and partially bent and the fist travelling nearly horizontally mesially along an arc.
14. Noun.  (slang) A jack (the playing card).
15. Noun.  (typography, rare) = (l, en) .
16. Verb.  (transitive) To attach a hook to.
17. Verb.  (transitive) To catch with a hook (''hook a fish'').
18. Verb.  (transitive) To ensnare someone, as if with a hook.
19. Verb.  (transitive) To connect (''hook into'', ''hook together'').
20. Verb.  (Usually in passive) To make addicted; to captivate.
21. Verb.  (cricket, golf) To play a hook shot.
22. Verb.  (field hockey, ice hockey) To engage in the illegal maneuver of hooking (i.e., using the hockey stick to trip or block another player).
23. Verb.  (soccer) To swerve a ball; kick a ball so it swerves or bends.
24. Verb.  (intransitive, slang) To engage in prostitution.