Crook (krk), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Crooked (krkt); p. pr. & vb. n. Crooking.]
Etymology: [OE. croken; cf. Sw. kr, Dan. kr. 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.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Crook (krk), n.
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 stafu. 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.
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.