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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

hooker.

One who, or that which, hooks.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈhʊkə/Australia, Received-Pronunciation[ˈhʊkə]Australia, Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɵkə/British, Southern, Standard[ˈhɵkə] ~ [ˈhɘkə]British, Southern, Standard
  1. One who, or that which, hooks.

  2. A player who hooks the ball out of the scrum with his foot.

  3. A batsman or batswoman adept at or fond of playing hook shots.

  4. A crocheter.

  5. Synonym of hook (“attention-grabbing element of a creative work”).

    dated · informal
  6. A thief who uses a pole with a hook on the end to steal goods.

    archaic
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree English hook Proto-Indo-European *-yósder. Proto-Italic *-āzios Latin -āriusnom. Latin -āriusbor. Proto-Germanic *-ārijaz Proto-West Germanic *-ārī Old English -ere Middle English -ere English -er English hooker From hook (verb) + -er.

noun/ˈhʊkə/Australia, Received-Pronunciation[ˈhʊkə]Australia, Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɵkə/British, Southern, Standard[ˈhɵkə] ~ [ˈhɘkə]British, Southern, Standard
  1. A prostitute.

    US · slang
  2. An imprecise measure of alcoholic drink; a "slug" (of gin), or an overlarge gulp.

    dated · slang
Where this word comes from

Unknown. The "prostitute" sense is the subject of a folk etymology connecting it to General Hooker of the American Civil War, but the earliest known use dates to 1835, decades before the war. Less implausibly, it has also been connected to a coastal feature called a hook (“A spit or narrow cape of sand or gravel turned landward at the outer end, such as Sandy Hook in New Jersey, Red Hook in New York”) in the ports of New York and Baltimore. Carefully learned inference is not conclusive. See this essay, pp 105ff.

noun/ˈhʊkə/Australia, Received-Pronunciation[ˈhʊkə]Australia, Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɵkə/British, Southern, Standard[ˈhɵkə] ~ [ˈhɘkə]British, Southern, Standard
  1. A small fishing boat.

  2. Any antiquated craft.

    derogatory · slang
Where this word comes from

From Dutch hoeker, an alteration of Middle Dutch hoecboot, from hoec + boot.

noun/ˈhʊkə/Australia, Received-Pronunciation[ˈhʊkə]Australia, Received-Pronunciation/ˈhɵkə/British, Southern, Standard[ˈhɵkə] ~ [ˈhɘkə]British, Southern, Standard
  1. Alternative spelling of hookah.

    alt-of · alternative
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.