Crook \Crook\ (kr??k), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Crooked (kr??kt); p. pr. & vb. n. Crooking.]

[OE. croken; cf. Sw. kr?ka, Dan. kr?ge. See Crook, n.]

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.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Crook \Crook\ (kr[oo^]k), n. [OE. crok; akin to Icel. kr[onac]kr hook, bend, SW. krok, Dan. krog, OD. krooke; or cf. Gael. crocan crook, hook, W. crwca crooked. Cf. Crosier, Crotchet, Crutch, Encroach.]

1. A bend, turn, or curve; curvature; flexure.

Through lanes, and crooks, and darkness. --Phaer.

2. Any implement having a bent or crooked end. Especially:
   (a) The staff used by a shepherd, the hook of which serves to hold a runaway sheep.
   (b) A bishop's staff of office. Cf. Pastoral staff.

He left his crook, he left his flocks. --Prior.

3. A pothook. ``As black as the crook.'' --Sir W. Scott.

4. An artifice; trick; tricky device; subterfuge.

For all yuor brags, hooks, and crooks. --Cranmer.

5. (Mus.) A small tube, usually curved, applied to a trumpet, horn, etc., to change its pitch or key.

6. A person given to fraudulent practices; an accomplice of thieves, forgers, etc. [Cant, U.S.]

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

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
 

Crook \Crook\, v. i. To bend; to curve; to wind; to have a curvature. `` The port . . . crooketh like a bow.'' --Phaer.

Their shoes and pattens are snouted, and piked more than a finger long, crooking upwards. --Camden.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)