crook

== English == === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation, General American, Australia) IPA(key): /kɹʊk/, [kɹ̠̊˔ʷʊk] (Standard Southern British) IPA(key): /kɹɵk/, [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɵk] ~ [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɘk] (New Zealand) IPA(key): /kɹʊk/, [kɹ̠̊˔ʷʊk] ~ [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɵk] ~ [kɹ̠̊˔ʷɨ̞k] (Wales) IPA(key): /kɾʊk/ (Scotland) IPA(key): /kɾʉk/ (Northern Ireland) IPA(key): /kɻʉk/ (obsolete) IPA(key): /kɹuːk/ Rhymes: -ʊk === Etymology 1 === 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). ==== Noun ==== crook (plural crooks) 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 person who steals, lies, cheats, or does other dishonest or illegal things; a criminal; a scoundrel, scofflaw, lawbreaker, rogue, or miscreant. 1973 November 17, Richard Nixon, reported 1973 November 18, The Washington Post, Nixon Tells Editors, ‘I'm Not a Crook’, "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I′m not a crook. I′ve earned everything I′ve got." (obsolete) A lock or curl of hair. (obsolete) 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. 1970, The New English Bible with the Apocrypha, Oxford Study Edition, published 1976, Oxford University Press, Psalms 23-4, p.583: 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. A bishop's standard staff of office. An artifice; a trick; a contrivance. A pothook. (music) A small tube, usually curved, applied to a trumpet, horn, etc., to change its pitch or key. ===== Synonyms ===== (criminal): See Thesaurus:criminal ===== Derived terms ===== ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 2 === From Middle English crooken, croken, crokien, from Old English *crōcian, from Proto-West Germanic *krōkōn (“to bend, wrinkle”), from the noun (see above). Cognate with Dutch kreuken (“to crease, rumple”), German Low German kröken (“to bend, offend, suppress”). ==== Verb ==== crook (third-person singular simple present crooks, present participle crooking, simple past and past participle crooked) (transitive) To bend, or form into a hook. (intransitive) To become bent or hooked. To turn from the path of rectitude; to pervert; to misapply; to twist. ===== Derived terms ===== crooked (adjective) crook one's elbow knee-crooking uncrook ===== Translations ===== === Etymology 3 === From crooked (“dishonestly come by”). ==== Adjective ==== crook (comparative crooker, superlative crookest) (Australia, New Zealand, slang) Bad, unsatisfactory, not up to standard. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) Ill, sick. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) Annoyed, angry; upset. be crook at/about; go crook at ===== Derived terms ===== crook as Rookwood === References === === See also === crook and nanny (etymologically unrelated) == Middle English == === Verb === crook alternative form of croken