by hook and by crook

US, UK/baɪ ˈhʊk‿n̩ baɪ ˈkɹʊk/

A form of by hook or by crook — By any means possible; one way or another.

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Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. alternativeAlternative form of by hook or by crook.

    He had destroyed his talent by not using it, by betrayals of himself and what he believed in, by drinking so much that he blunted the edge of his perceptions, by laziness, by sloth, and by snobbery, by pride and by prejudice, by hook and by crook.

    1936 August, Ernest Hemingway, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro”, in The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 14 October 1938, →OCLC, page 158
    2 more examples

    Thus, by diverse little make shifts, in that ingenious way which is commonly denominated "by hook and by crook," the worthy pedagogue got on tolerably enough, and was thought, by all those who undersood nothing of the labour of headwork, to have a wonderful easy life of it.

    1820 March 5, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number VI, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle, […], →OCLC, pages 62–63

    In these fields of Mr. Tulkinghorn's inhabiting, where the shepherds play on Chancery pipes that have no stop, and keep their sheep in the fold by hook and by crook until they have shorn them exceeding close, every noise is merged, this moonlight night, into a distant ringing hum, as if the city were a vast glass, vibrating.

    1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, “Closing In”, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC, page 469

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with by hook and by crook

booklooktookoutlookhookbrookbrookeshookkochoverlookchinookcrooklogbookrookmookchookovercookblookjookchequebookabrookbring to bookby hook or by crookCorner Brook
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

by hook and by crook. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20hook%20and%20by%20crook

MLA

“by hook and by crook.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20hook%20and%20by%20crook. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “by hook and by crook,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20hook%20and%20by%20crook.

Source: by hook and by crook on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.