Definition of CROOK

crook

Plural: crooks

Noun

  • someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime
  • a circular segment of a curve
    • "a crook in the path"
  • a long staff with one end being hook shaped
  • A bend; turn; curve; curvature; a flexure.
  • A bending of the knee; a genuflection.
  • A bent or curved part; a curving piece or portion (of anything).
  • A lock or curl of hair.
  • 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.
  • A specialized staff with a semi-circular bend (a "hook") at one end used by shepherds to control their herds.
  • A bishop's standard staff of office.
  • An artifice; a trick; a contrivance.
  • A person who steals, lies, cheats or does other dishonest or illegal things; a criminal.
  • A pothook.
  • A small tube, usually curved, applied to a trumpet, horn, etc., to change its pitch or key.

Verb

Verb Forms: crooked, crooking, crooks

  • To bend or cause to bend, especially part of the body.
  • bend or cause to bend
    • "He crooked his index finger"
  • To bend, or form into a hook.
  • To become bent or hooked.
  • To turn from the path of rectitude; to pervert; to misapply; to twist.

Adj

  • Bad, unsatisfactory, not up to standard.
  • Ill, sick.
  • Annoyed, angry; upset.

Examples

  • He crooked his finger toward me.
  • He had to CROOK his neck to see the tiny letters on the far side of the Scrabble board.
  • I′m feeling a bit crook.
  • Not turning up for training was pretty crook.
  • She held the baby in the crook of her arm.
  • That work you did on my car is crook, mate.
  • the crook of a cane

Origin / Etymology

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).

Synonyms

bend, criminal, curve, felon, malefactor, outlaw, shepherd's crook, turn, twist

Scrabble Score: 11

crook: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
crook: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
crook: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 12

crook: valid Words With Friends Word