1the hooked staff of a shepherd:seizing his crook from behind the door, he set off to call his dogs
a bishop’s crozier.
a bend in something, especially at the elbow in a person’s arm:her head was cradled in the crook of Luke’s left arm
a piece of extra tubing which can be fitted to a brass instrument to lower the pitch by a set interval.
2 informal a person who is dishonest or a criminal:the man’s a crook, he’s not to be trusted
verb
[with object]
bend (something, especially a finger as a signal):he crooked a finger for the waitress
adjective
Australian/NZ informal
bad, unpleasant, or unsatisfactory:it was pretty crook on the land in the early 1970s
(of a person or a part of the body) unwell or injured:a crook knee
dishonest; illegal:some pretty crook things went on there
Phrases
be crook on
Australian/NZ informal be annoyed by:you’re crook on me because I didn’t walk out with you
go crook
Australian/NZ informal lose one’s temper:we rolled him for his overcoat—you ought to have heard him go crook
Derivatives
crookery
noun
Origin:
Middle English (in the sense 'hooked tool or weapon'): from Old Norse krókr 'hook'. A noun sense 'deceit, guile, trickery' (compare with crooked) was recorded in Middle English but was obsolete by the 17th century The Australian senses are abbreviations of crooked
