crook — Defs

01 n. A bend, turn, or curve; curvature; flexure.

1.
A bend, turn, or curve; curvature; flexure.
“Through lanes, and crooks, and darkness.” — Phaer.
2.
Any implement having a bent or crooked end.
“He left his crook, he left his flocks.” — Prior.
3.
A pothook.
4.
An artifice; trick; tricky device; subterfuge.
“For all yuor brags, hooks, and crooks.” — Cranmer.
5.
A small tube, usually curved, applied to a trumpet, horn, etc., to change its pitch or key.(Mus.)
6.
A person given to fraudulent practices; an accomplice of thieves, forgers, etc.[Cant, U.S.]

Phrases & compounds

By hook or by crook — in some way or other; by fair means or foul.

02 v. t. To turn from a straight line; to bend; to curve.

imp. & p. p. Crooked; p. pr. & vb. n. Crooking

1.
To turn from a straight line; to bend; to curve.
“Crook the pregnant hinges of the knee.” — Shak.
2.
To turn from the path of rectitude; to pervert; to misapply; to twist.[Archaic]
“There is no one thing that crooks youth more than such unlawfull games.” — Ascham.

“What soever affairs pass such a man's hands, he crooketh them to his own ends.” — Bacon.

03 v. i. To bend; to curve; to wind; to have a curvature.

1.
To bend; to curve; to wind; to have a curvature.
“Their shoes and pattens are snouted, and piked more than a finger long, crooking upwards.” — Camden.