crook /kɹʊk/noun 11adjective 3verb 3forms 6phrases 1 noun11 •A bend; turn; curve; curvature; a flexure.She held the baby in the crook of her arm. •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. — 1958 •A bent or curved part; a curving piece or portion (of anything). •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. — 1970 •A bishop's standard staff of office. •An artifice; a trick; a contrivance.for all your brags, hooks, and crooks — 1547 •A pothook. •A small tube, usually curved, applied to a trumpet, horn, etc., to change its pitch or key. •A bending of the knee; a genuflection. •(no longer used) A lock or curl of hair. •(no longer used) 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. adjective3 •(Australia, slang) Bad, unsatisfactory, not up to standard.That work you did on my car is crook, mate.Not turning up for training was pretty crook. •(Australia, slang) Ill, sick.I′m feeling a bit crook. •(Australia, slang) Annoyed, angry; upset.Ann explained to the teacher what had happened and the nuns went crook at me too. — 2006 verb3 •To bend, or form into a hook.He crooked his finger toward me. •To become bent or hooked. •To turn from the path of rectitude; to pervert; to misapply; to twist. formscrooked · crooking · crooketh · crooks · crooker · crookest Phrases with crook by hook or by crookBy any means possible; one way or another.
