crook (kr&oobreve_;k), n. [OE. crok; akin to Icel. krōkr hook, bend, SW. krok, Dan. krog, OD. krooke; or cf. Gael. crocan crook, hook, W. crwca crooked. Cf. Crosier, Crotchet, Crutch, Encroach.] 1. A bend, turn, or curve; curvature; flexure.
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Through lanes, and crooks, and darkness. Phaer.
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2. Any implement having a bent or crooked end. Especially: (a) The staff used by a shepherd, the hook of which serves to hold a runaway sheep. (b) A bishop's staff of office. Cf. Pastoral staff.
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He left his crook, he left his flocks. Prior.
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3. A pothook. “As black as the crook.” Sir W. Scott.
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4. An artifice; trick; tricky device; subterfuge.
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For all yuor brags, hooks, and crooks. Cranmer.
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5. (Mus.) A small tube, usually curved, applied to a trumpet, horn, etc., to change its pitch or key.
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6. A person given to fraudulent practices; an accomplice of thieves, forgers, etc. [Cant, U.S.]
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By hook or by crook, in some way or other; by fair means or foul.
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Crook, v. i. To bend; to curve; to wind; to have a curvature. “ The port . . . crooketh like a bow.” Phaer.
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Their shoes and pattens are snouted, and piked more than a finger long, crooking upwards. Camden.
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