Library / English Dictionary

CROOK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A long staff with one end being hook shaped

Synonyms:

crook; shepherd's crook

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("crook" is a kind of...):

staff (a strong rod or stick with a specialized utilitarian purpose)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Someone who has committed a crime or has been legally convicted of a crime

Synonyms:

criminal; crook; felon; malefactor; outlaw

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("crook" is a kind of...):

principal ((criminal law) any person involved in a criminal offense, regardless of whether the person profits from such involvement)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "crook"):

law offender; lawbreaker; violator (someone who violates the law)

traitor; treasonist (someone who betrays his country by committing treason)

stealer; thief (a criminal who takes property belonging to someone else with the intention of keeping it or selling it)

contrabandist; moon-curser; moon curser; runner; smuggler (someone who imports or exports without paying duties)

scofflaw (one who habitually ignores the law and does not answer court summonses)

habitual criminal; recidivist; repeater (someone who is repeatedly arrested for criminal behavior (especially for the same criminal behavior))

raper; rapist (someone who forces another to have sexual intercourse)

racketeer (someone who commits crimes for profit (especially one who obtains money by fraud or extortion))

drug dealer; drug peddler; drug trafficker; peddler; pusher (an unlicensed dealer in illegal drugs)

parolee; probationer (someone released on probation or on parole)

liquidator; manslayer; murderer (a criminal who commits homicide (who performs the unlawful premeditated killing of another human being))

gangster's moll; gun moll; moll (the girlfriend of a gangster)

mafioso (a member of the Mafia crime syndicate in the United States)

accessary; accessory (someone who helps another person commit a crime)

arsonist; firebug; incendiary (a criminal who illegally sets fire to property)

blackmailer; extortioner; extortionist (a criminal who extorts money from someone by threatening to expose embarrassing information about them)

bootlegger; moonshiner (someone who makes or sells illegal liquor)

briber; suborner (someone who pays (or otherwise incites) you to commit a wrongful act)

coconspirator; conspirator; machinator; plotter (a member of a conspiracy)

desperado; desperate criminal (a bold outlaw (especially on the American frontier))

fugitive; fugitive from justice (someone who is sought by law officers; someone trying to elude justice)

gangster; mobster (a criminal who is a member of gang)

highbinder (a corrupt politician)

highjacker; hijacker (someone who uses force to take over a vehicle (especially an airplane) in order to reach an alternative destination)

goon; hood; hoodlum; punk; strong-armer; thug; tough; toughie (an aggressive and violent young criminal)

gaolbird; jail bird; jailbird (a criminal who has been jailed repeatedly)

abductor; kidnaper; kidnapper; snatcher (someone who unlawfully seizes and detains a victim (usually for ransom))

Instance hyponyms:

Billie the Kid; Bonney; William H. Bonney (United States outlaw who was said to have killed 21 men (1859-1881))

James; Jesse James (United States outlaw who fought as a Confederate soldier and later led a band of outlaws that robbed trains and banks in the West until he was murdered by a member of his own gang (1847-1882))

MacGregor; Rob Roy; Robert MacGregor (Scottish clan leader and outlaw who was the subject of a 1817 novel by Sir Walter Scott (1671-1734))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A circular segment of a curve

Example:

a crook in the path

Synonyms:

bend; crook; turn; twist

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("crook" is a kind of...):

curve; curved shape (the trace of a point whose direction of motion changes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "crook"):

bight (a bend or curve (especially in a coastline))

Derivation:

crook (bend or cause to bend)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Bend or cause to bend

Example:

the road curved sharply

Synonyms:

crook; curve

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "crook" is one way to...):

bend; flex (form a curve)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "crook"):

recurve (curve or bend (something) back or down)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

crook (a circular segment of a curve)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Yes, believe it or not, there are crooks who are printing checks linked to other people’s accounts and actually writing out checks and signing the account owner’s name.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

He crooked the arm next to her—crooked it very slightly and with secret tentativeness, not invitingly, but just casually, as though he was accustomed to walk that way.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

A few small coins, a thimble, and some thread and big needles, a piece of pigtail tobacco bitten away at the end, his gully with the crooked handle, a pocket compass, and a tinder box were all that they contained, and I began to despair.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Mr. Cutter was in a hurry and said 'No', rather crossly, so she was going away, looking hungry and sorry, when Mr. Laurence hooked up a big fish with the crooked end of his cane and held it out to her.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Why, a Yankee crook would be into that with a can-opener.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Why do they not get to work and dig up these long rows of black and crooked stumps which I see on every hand?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I do not like crooked, twisted, blasted trees.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

“Do you know that your smile is crooked?” I asked him; for I knew that she must attend him, and I wished to save her as much as possible.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

By the light of the fire he crooked his fingers slowly and repeatedly now one at a time, now all together, spreading them wide or making quick gripping movements.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

From babies who had but a week or two of life behind them, to crooked old men and women who seemed to have but a week or two of life before them; and from ploughmen bodily carrying out soil of England on their boots, to smiths taking away samples of its soot and smoke upon their skins; every age and occupation appeared to be crammed into the narrow compass of the “tween decks.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)