Forms: 3–4 croc, 3–6 croke, 4–5 Sc. and north. cruk, 4–6 crok, kroke, 5–6 cruke, 5–8 crooke, 6–9 Sc. cruik, 4– crook. [ME. crōk, crōc, app. a. ON. krókr (Sw. krok, Da. krog) crook, hook, barb, trident; unknown elsewhere in Teutonic, but app. belonging to the same ablaut series (krak-, krôk), as OHG. chracho, chracco hook; cf. ON. kraki boat-hook.
The parallelism of form and meaning with CROCHE, CROSE, is notable in sense 4. Relationship between the ablaut series krak-, krôk, and that to which crutch belongs, cannot al present be asserted.]
A. sb. 1. An instrument, weapon or tool of hooked form; a hook. spec. † a. A reaping-hook, sickle; b. A hook for grappling or catching; c. A hook or bent iron on which anything is hung; e.g., one of the iron hooks on which a gate hangs: esp. in ‘crooks and bands’ (see BAND sb.1 3); a hook in a chimney for hanging a pot or kettle on, a pot-hook; hence phr. as black as the crook (Sc.).
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 99/241. And hire bresten fram hire bodi with Irene crokes rende.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 18104 (Cott.). He … brast þe brasen yates sa strang, And stelen croc þat þai wit hang.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 40. Quen corne is coruen with crokez kene.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 640, Cleopatras. In gooth the grapenel so ful of crokis.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., I. 1161. Rakes, crookes, adses, and bycornes.
1453. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 160. Pro nayles et crokes emptis pro magnis portis.
1522. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), V. 153. j blake worsted kirtle, and the gretter golde crokes.
1587. Vestry Bks. (Surtees), 26. For fowre bands & crookes, vj d.
1588. A. King, trans. Canisius’ Catech., 177. As ane dur is tourned on the cruuks (quhilk in latin ar called cardines).
1600. Surflet, Countrie Farme, I. xxiv. 152. Hang them [pigs when killed] to the crookes set vp in some vaulted roofe.
a. 1774. Fergusson, Election, Poems (1845), 40. Till, in a birn, beneath the crook, They’re singit wi a scowder.
1826. Scott, Diary, 17 Jan. With a visage as black as the crook.
1848. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., IX. II. 420. The ends of each rafter are turned in the form of a gate-crook.
1858. R. S. Surtees, Ask Mamma, lvi. 256. From whose lofty ceiling hung the crooks, from whence used to dangle the … legs of … mutton.
† 2. A crooked claw, as of a beast or fiend; passing into sense ‘clutch.’ (Cf. CLUTCH sb.1 1–3.)
In reference to fiends the sense is often doubtful; some hooked or barbed instrument may have been meant.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 102 (Cleop. MS.). Þe cat of helle … drouh al ut … wið crokede crokes. Ibid., 174. Uorte worpen upon ou his crokes [MS. T. hore clokes, MS. C. hise cleches].
a. 1300. Cursor M., 23252 (Cott.). Strang paine es it on þam to loke, and namli laght vntil þair crok. Ibid., 25060. Þas oþer þat his lagh forsok, he kest þam in þat feindes croke.
a. 1400. Cov. Myst., 209. Out of thi [Satan’s] … cruel crook By Godys grace man xal be redempt.
14[?]. in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866), 98. The deville caught him in his croke.
† 3. A barbed spear. (So in ONorse.) Obs.
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 1590. He bare on his nek a croke … It was twelfe ffeete and more. Ibid., 1604. Sith he pullith at his croke, So fast in to the flesh it toke That oute myȝt he gete it nought.
4. A shepherd’s staff, having one end curved or hooked, for catching the hinder leg of a sheep.
c. 1430. Lydg., Chorle & Byrde, xlviii. in Ashm. 223. A Chepys Croke to the ys better than a Launce.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 104. Croke, or scheype hoke, pedum.
1635. Cowley, Davideis, I. 2. I Sing the Man who Judah’s Scepter bore In that right hand which held the Crook before.
1720. Gay, Dione, III. ii. Leaning on her crook Stood the sad nymph.
1883. E. Pennell-Elmhirst, Cream Leicestersh., 240. Where the sickle holds the place of the shepherd’s crook.
b. The pastoral staff of a bishop, abbot or abbess, shaped like a shepherd’s staff; a crosier.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Friar’s T., 19 (Tyrwh.). Er the bishop hent hem with his crook [Harl. & 6-text hook].
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, III. xxiv. (1869), 149. This crook and this S shewen wel that j am an abbesse.
1851. Longf., Gold. Leg., I. ii. 23. The Priests came flocking in … With all their crosiers and their crooks.
5. Any hooked or incurved appendage, e.g., a tendril of a plant, one of the hooks on the fruit of the burdock, etc.; the curved or hooked part of anything, e.g., of a walking-stick; the ‘crosier’ of a fern.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. clxxvii. (1495), 717. Those bondes or crokes of the vyne by the whyche it takyth and byclyppyth trees and stalkes.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. viii. 15. Upon the braunches there groweth small bullets … garnisshed full of little crookes or hookes.
1665. Hooke, Microgr., 2. The … thorns, or crooks, or hairs of leaves.
1850. Florist, March, 87. The young fronds of the … Ferns uncurling their crooks.
† b. A curl or roll of hair formerly worn. Obs. (Cf. CROCKET1 1.)
c. 1308. Sat. People Kildare, x. in E. E. P. (1862), 154. Þoȝ ȝur crune be ischave, fair beþ ȝur crokes [rhyme bokes].
c. 1325. Poems Times Edw. II., in Pol. Songs (Camden), 327. A myrour and a koeverchef to binde wid his crok [rhyme bitok].
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 3352. Cho kembede myne heuede That the krispane kroke to my crownne raughte.
[1721. Bailey, Crok, the turning up of the hair into curls.]
c. A crooked or incurved piece of timber.
1802. Naval Chron., VIII. 373. The … futtocks [are all got] from natural grown crooks.
1806. Hull Advertiser, 11 Jan., 2/2. Oak Timber, consisting of Knees and Crooks, peculiarly well adapted for Ship Building.
d. Bell-founding. (See quots.)
1857. Lukis, Acc. Ch. Bells, 21. The crook is a kind of compass formed of wood, and is used for making the moulds.
1872. Ellacombe, Ch. Bells Devon, vii. i. 7. The core is first … moulded as described by the action of the crook.
6. A small space, or piece of ground, of a crooked shape; an odd corner, nook.
1417. Searchers Verdicts, in Surtees Misc. (1890), 11. A cruke of Robert Feriby grund.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, I. lvi. (1869), 34. In sum anglet or in sum … crook or cornere.
1717. N. Riding Rec., VIII. 23. Other small parts [of a farm] called crookes and crinkles.
1839–40. W. Irving, Wolfert’s R. (1855), 33. It was full of nooks and crooks, and chambers of all sorts and sizes.
† 7. pl. Brackets (in printing), parentheses. Obs. (Cf. CROTCHET 8.)
1641. Milton, Ch. Govt., I. (1851), 116. Though it be cunningly interpolisht … with crooks and emendations.
1762. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, VI. xxxi. Among my father’s papers, with here and there an insertion of his own, betwixt two crooks, thus [ ].
8. Musical Instr. a. An accessory piece of curved tubing to be added to a metal wind instrument, as a horn or cornet, to lower the pitch, so as to adapt it to the key of the piece of music in which it is to be used. b. The crooked metal tube connecting the body with the reed of a bassoon.
1842. S. Lover, Handy Andy, xviii. 151. [The trumpeter] pulling out one crook from another.
1879. Grove, Dict. Mus., I. 152/1. It [the bassoon] consists of five pieces,… the crook, wing, butt, long joints, and bell. Ibid., I. 750/1. The difference of pitch [in the Horn] … being provided by the various crooks.
9. A support or frame of wood, bent in a particular way, formerly slung in pairs panier-wise across the saddle of a pack-horse for carrying loads. (Somerset and Devon.)
1657. R. Ligon, Barbadoes (1673), 89. Small pack-saddles, and crooks…, laying upon each Crook a faggot.
c. 1710. Celia Fiennes, Diary (1888), 225. Carryages on horses backes … wth sort of crookes of wood like yokes either side … in wch they stow ye corne and so tie it wth cords.
1791. J. Collinson, Hist. Somerset, II. 34. Most of the roads and fields are so steep, that no carriages of any kind can be used; all the crops are therefore carried in with crooks on horses.
1850. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XI. II. 739. The corn is often harvested in crooks on horses’ backs.
1888. Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., s.v., It used to be as common to say ‘I’ll send a horse and crooks’ as it is now to say ‘horse and cart.’ [They] are now very rarely seen.
10. The act of crooking; esp. a bending of the knee or of the body in sign of reverence (obs.).
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 1816. Ffor-setten byfore, and eke byhynde, Wyþ crokes ilkon oþer gan bynde.
1603. B. Jonson, Sejanus, I. i. He is now the court god; and well applied With sacrifice of knees, of crooks, and cringes.
1857. Hughes, Tom Brown, I. iii. A well-aimed crook of the heel or thrust of the loin.
11. A bending or curve, a convolution, e.g., of a river, path, the intestines, etc.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, E vij b. Of the nomblis … theys oder crokes and Roundulis bene.
1558. Phaër, Æneid, II. (R.). Through lanes and crokes and darknes most we past.
1585. James I., Ess. Poesie (Arb.), 16. Sea eylis rare, that be Myle longs, in crawling cruikis of sixtie pace.
1609. C. Butler, Fem. Mon., v. (1623), M ij. Let it downe by a cord tied to some crooke of the bough.
1686. Burnet, Trav., v. (1750), 253. The Rhine maketh a Crook before it.
1885. Mary E. Wilkins, in Harper’s Mag., March, 594/1. The old homely ways, whose crooks she had thought she knew by heart, were constantly giving her a feeling of pain and strangeness.
1887. Stevenson, Underwoods, I. xiv. 29. The crooks of Tweed.
† 12. fig. A crooked piece of conduct; a trick, artifice, wile; deceit, guile, trickery. Obs.
c. 1200. Ormin, 11635. Þa wære he þurrh þe deofless croc I gluternesse fallenn.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 125. Wið alle hise crefti crokes.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 740 (Cott.). Þe nedder … þat mast kan bath on crok and craft.
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 161. He soughte nought the worldes croke [rhyme boke] For veine honour ne for richesse.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 145. Withe sich wylys and crokes.
a. 1556. Cranmer, To Gardiner (T.). For all your bragges, hookes, and crookes, you have such a fall.
1594. Willobie, Avisa, 35. The wise will shunne such craftie crookes.
13. One whose conduct is crooked; a dishonest person, swindler, sharper. U.S. colloq.
1886. F. R. Kelly, in Daily Local News, (West Chester, PA), 11 March, 3/3. The photographs of several English cracksmen along with one of a New York crook.
1891. Helen Campbell, Darkness & Daylight, 470. Gamblers, pickpockets and other ‘crooks’ abound.
14. dial. ‘The crick in the neck; a painful stiffness, the effect of cold.’ Craven Gloss. 1828. b. ‘A disease of sheep, whereby their heads are drawn on one side.’ Ibid.
15. Phrases. a. † On crook, a-crook: crookedly, in a crooked course. Obs. On the crook: dishonestly. slang.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), II. 53. Humber … renneþ first a crook out of þe south side of York.
c. 1425. Hampole’s Psalter, Metr. Pref. 38. Many out of bales browȝt, þt in lywyng went on croke.
a. 1500–1881. [see ACROOK].
b. Crook in one’s lot: something untoward or distressing in one’s experience: an affliction, trial. Sc.
a. 1732. T. Boston (title), The Crook in the Lot; or the Wisdom and Sovereignty of God displayed in the afflictions of men. Ibid. (1767), 14. The crook in the lot is the special trial appointed for every one.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xii. I trust to bear even this crook in my lot with submission.
1835. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., I. 32. It is positively a great crook in my present lot.
16. By hook or by crook: see HOOK.
B. adj. [Arising probably from dissolution of the combinations crook-back, etc., in which crook- was perhaps originally the sb., or the vb. stem; though it may have been shortened from crookt, crooked: cf. C b.] = CROOKED.
1508. Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 275. Weil couth I claw his cruke bak.
1647. H. More, Insomn. Philos., xxiv. Interpreting right whatever seemed crook.
C. Comb., as crook-like adj.; crook-saddle, a saddle with crooks for carrying loads (cf. 9.)
1700. Acc. St. Sebastian’s, in Harl. Misc., I. 413. Their iron bars are brought to the town on horses or mules, on crook-saddles.
1797. Statist. Acc. Scot., XIX. 248. (Stornoway) Horse-loads are … carried in small creels, one on each side of the horse, and fixed by a rope to the crook-saddle.
1888. F. G. Lee, in Archæol., LI. 356. A bishop or abbot holding a crook-like pastoral staff.
b. Parasynthetic combs., as crook-billed, -fingered, -kneed, -legged, -lipped, -necked, -nosed, -shouldered, -sided, -sterned, -toothed adjs. See also CROOK-BACK, -BACKED, CROOK-NECK.
Crooked- was used in the same way from Wyclif onwards.
a. 1529. Skelton, El. Rummyng, 427. Croke necked like an owl.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, Bossu, downe backed, crooke shouldered.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., IV. i. 127. My hounds are … Crooke kneed, and dew-lapt, like Thessalian Buls.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Cancajoso, crooklegged.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. v. 515. Crook-tooth’d Lampreys.
1598. Chapman, Iliad, II. 684. The crooke-stern’d [ed. c. 1611 crookt-stern’d] shippes.
1684. trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., IX. 334. Oftentimes Children about two years old, when they begin to go, are crook-legged.
1775. S. Crisp, in Mad. D’Arblay’s Early Diary, II. 36. Reduc’d to a level with crook-finger’d Jack!
