Etymology

Noun

1. A rod bent into a curved shape, typically with one end free and the other end secured to a rope or other attachment.
2. A fishhook, a barbed metal hook used for fishing.
3. A loop shaped like a hook under certain written letters, e.g. g and j.
4. A catchy musical phrase which forms the basis of a popular song.

   The song's hook snared me.

5. A brief, punchy opening statement intended to draw the reader or viewer into a book or play.
6. Removal or expulsion from a group or activity.

   He is not handling this job, so we're giving him the hook.

7. A type of shot played by swinging the bat in a horizontal arc, hitting the ball high in the air to the leg side, often played to balls which bounce around head height.
8. A curveball.

   He threw a hook in the dirt.

9. A feature, definition, or coding that enables future enhancements to happen compatibly or more easily.

   We've added "user-defined" codepoints in several places and careful definitions of what to do with unknown message types as hooks in the standard to enable implementations to be both backward and forward compatible to future versions of the standard.

10. A golf shot that (for the right-handed player) curves unintentionally to the left. See draw, slice, fade
11. A basketball shot in which the offensive player, usually turned perpendicular to the basket, gently throws the ball with a sweeping motion of his arm in an upward arc with a follow-through which ends over his head. Also called hook shot.
12. A type of punch delivered with the arm rigid and partially bent and the fist travelling nearly horizontally mesially along an arc.

    The heavyweight delivered a few powerful hooks that staggered his opponent.

13. A jack (the playing card)

1. To attach a hook to.

   Hook the bag here, and the conveyor will carry it away.

2. To catch with a hook (hook a fish).

   He hooked a snake accidentally, and was so scared he dropped his rod into the water.

3. To connect (hook into, hook together).

   If you hook your network cable into the jack, you'll be on the network.

4. hook up: To meet.

   You guys go ahead to the fair, and we'll hook up with you later.

5. hook up: To have sexual intercourse with.

   She got wasted at the party and ended up hooking up with her ex.

6. (Usually in passive) To make addicted (I'm hooked).

   He had gotten hooked on cigarettes in his youth.

7. To play a hook shot.
8. To engage in the illegal maneuver of hooking (i.e., using the hockey stick to trip or block another player)

   The opposing team's forward hooked me, but the referee didn't see it, so no penalty.

9. To engage in prostitution.

   I had a cheap flat in the bad part of town, and I could watch the working girls hooking from my bedroom window.