left hook

noun

A powerful punch thrown with the left hand, typically after a jab or a straight punch.

“Just when he thought that the cross-examination was over and he'd parried the questions successfully, one of the lawyers stood up and threw a left hook that left him spluttering.”

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Meanings

nounleft hook (plural left hooks)

plural left hooks

  1. boxingA powerful punch thrown with the left hand, typically after a jab or a straight punch.

    I hit Stephens with a left hook followed by a looping right hand and a pulverizing left hook that caught him right on the button.

    2000, Ken Norton, Marshall Terrill, Mike Fitzgerald, Joe Frazier (contributor), Going the Distance, page 160
  2. figurativelyidiomaticoccasionallyA surprise assault.

    Just when he thought that the cross-examination was over and he'd parried the questions successfully, one of the lawyers stood up and threw a left hook that left him spluttering.

Translations

Finnish vasen koukku
  • vasen koukkuTranslations
French crochet du gauche
  • crochet du gaucheTranslations
Polish lewy sierpowy
  • lewy sierpowyTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

left hook. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/left%20hook

MLA

“left hook.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/left%20hook. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “left hook,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/left%20hook.

Source: left hook on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.