- (informal) a dishonest person synonym criminal
- That salesman is a real crook.
- The film portrays a world of small-time crooks, petty crime and drinking clubs.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- small-time
- corporate
- catch
- crook of your arm/elbow the place where your arm bends at the elbow
- He was carrying a gun in the crook of his arm.
- a long stick with a hook (= a curved part) at one end, used by shepherds for catching sheep
Word OriginMiddle 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 cent. The Australian senses are abbreviations of crooked.
Idioms
See crook in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryby hook or by crook
- using any method you can, even a dishonest one
Check pronunciation:
crook