1876. M. E. Braddon, Joshua Haggard, ch. x. Some of the young chaps
will be wanting her to get married. These here pretty ones go off
the hooks so soon.
To hook on to, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To attach oneself to; to
buttonhole (q.v.); to follow up.
1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 4. It’s nuts to ’ook on to a
swell.
On one’s own hook, adv. phr. (colloquial).—On one’s own account, risk,
or responsibility; for one’s own sake; dependent on one’s own resources
or exertions.
1847. Robb, Squatter Life, p. 23. The signal was given, and in
poured the subscribers to the dinner, with their guest, and in
poured John on his own hook.
1849. Thackeray, Pendennis, ch. lxix. Do we come out as Liberal
Conservative, or as Government man, or on our own hook?
1861. Whyte Melville, Good for Nothing, ch. xxvii. I worked on my
own hook, after that, and I rather think I paid my expenses.
1869. Greenwood, Seven Curses of London, p. 409. To steal on your
own hook as a bookmaker.
1889. Answers, p. 52, c. 3. Finally Edison went to work on his own
hook.
1893. Emerson, Signor Lippo, ch. viii. We used to have to part
company and go in twos and threes then on our own hook.
By hook or by crook, phr. (colloquial).—By some means or other; by fair
means or foul; at all hazards. [Probably of forestal origin.]
d. 1298. Thomas the Rhymer, On Parliaments. Their work was by hook
or crook to rap and bring all under the emperor’s power.
1525. Bodmin Register. Dynmure Wood was ever open and common to the
... inhabitants of Bodmin ... to bear away upon their backs a
burden of lop, crop, hook, crook, and bag wood.
d. 1529. Skelton, Collyn Cloute. Nor wyll suffer this boke By hooke
ne by crooke Prynted for to be.
1550. Bacon, Fortress of the Faithful. Whatsoever is pleasant or
profitable must be theirs by hook or by crook.
1557. Tusser, Good Husbandrie, 30 Mar. Watch therefore in Lent, to
thy sheepe go and look, For dogs will have vittels by hooke and by
crooke.
1566. Archbp. Parker, Correspondence (Parker Soc.), p. 252. To win
him in time, by hook or crook.
1596. Spenser, Faery Queen, v., 2, 27. The spoyle of people’s euill
gotten good, The which her sire had scrapt by hooke and crooke.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Barocco, a shift made for good
cheere, meate and drinke gotten by hooke or crooke.
1621. Burton, Anatomy of Melancholy, xi., 186 (1836). By hook and
by crook he will obtain it.
1629. Fonseca [Eng. by J. M.]. Devout Contemplations. Bee it by
hooke or by crooke, by right or wrong.
1678. Butler, Hudibras, iii., 1. Which he by hook, or crook, had
gather’d.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. By Hedge or By Style, by Hook
or by Crook.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1781. Cowper, Letter to Newton, 12 July. And by hook or crook, with
another book, If I live and am here, another year.
1820. Reynolds [Peter Corcoran]. The Fancy. Father, ere our purpose
cool, Get down by hook or crook to Liverpool.
1824. Hitchings and Drewe, Hist. Cornwall, ii., 214. The prior’s
cross, on which is cut the figure of a hook and a crook, in memory
of the privilege granted ... to the poor ... for gathering such
boughs and branches of such trees ... as they could reach with a
hook or by a crook ... whence ... they will have it by hook and by
crook.
1836. Michael Scott, Cruise of the Midge, p. 363. We must be manned
by hook or crook, you know, however unwilling to distress running
ships.
1868. Reade and Boucicault, Foul Play, p. 54. Several
fellow-creatures have cheated me. Well, I must get as much back, by
hook or by crook, from several fellow-creatures.
1883. W. Black, Yolande, ch. xlix. I should get you a ticket by
hook or by crook, if I failed at the ballot; I heard that one was
sold for £40 the last time.
1888. Rider Haggard, ‘Mrs. Meeson’s Will’ [in Illustrated News,
Summer Number, p. 5, c. 1]. Somehow or other, it would go hard if,
with the help of the one hundred a year that he had of his own, he
did not manage, with his education, to get a living by hook or by
crook.
With a hook at the end, phr. (common).—A reservation of assent; over
the left (q.v.); in a horn (q.v.). Cf., hook, intj.: and Hookey Walker.
1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Hookey Walker—and with a hook,
usually accompanied by a significant upliftment of the hand and
crooking of the forefinger, implying that what is said is a lie, or
is to be taken contrary-wise.
1843. Moncrieff, Scamps of London, i., 1. Bob. Will you have some
gin? Fogg. Gin—Yes! Bob (turning away). Ha—ha!—With a hook ... I
wish you may get it.
1870. Traill, Saturday Songs, p. 22. It’s go and go over the left,
It’s go with a hook at the end.
Off the hooks, phr. (old).—Out of temper; vexed; disturbed; out of
sorts. Fr., sortir de ses gonds = off the hinges (q.v.). For synonyms,
see Nab the rust.
1639–61. Rump Songs. ‘Bum-fodder.’ That’s a thing would please the
Butchers and Cooks, To see this stinking Rump quite off the hooks.
1665. Pepys, Diary, 26 May. In the evening by water to the Duke of
Albemarle, whom I found mightily off the hooks, that the ships are
not gone out of the River; which vexed me to see.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, s.v. Hooks. Off the hooks, in an ill
Mood, or out of Humour.
d. 1704. L’Estrange [quoted in Ency. Dict.]. Easily put off the
hooks, and monstrous hard to be pleased again.
1719. Durfey, Pills, etc., iii., 22. Another that’s in the
Blacksmith’s Books, And only to him for remedy looks, Is when a Man
is quite off the hooks.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v.
1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xxx. Everybody that has meddled
in this St. Ronan’s business is a little off the hooks—... in plain
words, a little crazy.
Hook and Snivey (or Hookum Snivey), subs. phr. (old).—1. An imposture;
specifically, the getting of food on false pretences.
1781. G. Parker, View of Society, ii., 79. ‘Hook and Snivey, with
Nix the Buffer’ [Title].
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v. Hook and Snivey with Nix the
Buffer. This rig consists in feeding a man and a dog for
nothing.... Three men, one of whom pretends to be sick and unable
to eat, go to a public house; the two well men make a bargain with
the landlord for their dinner, and when he is out of sight feed
their pretended sick companion and dog gratis.
1823. Bee, Dict. Turf. s.v. Hook and Snivvy—practised by soldiers
in quarters when they obtain grub for nix.
1835 in Comic Almanack 1835–43 (Hotten), p. 17, Zoological Society
at Hookem Snivey. A new animal has been transmitted from No-Man’s
Land, which has been named the Flat-Catcher.