{
    "term": "hook",
    "partOfSpeech": "noun",
    "ox5000": true,
    "cefr": "b2",
    "image": "data/images/ho/hooks.png",
    "definitions": [
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "a curved piece of metal, plastic or wire for hanging things on, catching fish with, etc.",
            "cefr": "b2",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a **picture/curtain/coat hook**"
                },
                {
                    "text": "a fish hook"
                },
                {
                    "text": "Hang your towel **on the hook**."
                },
                {
                    "text": "The key was hanging from a hook."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Your coat’s hanging on a hook behind the door."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "a short hard hit that is made with the elbow bent",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "a left hook to the jaw"
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 3,
            "definition": "a way of hitting the ball so that it curves to the side instead of going straight ahead (usually by mistake in golf, but deliberately in cricket)",
            "cefr": "c2",
            "examples": [],
            "topics": ["Sports: ball and racket sports"]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 4,
            "definition": "a thing that is used to make people interested in something",
            "cefr": "c2",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The images are used as a hook to get children interested in science."
                },
                {
                    "text": "Well-chosen quotations can serve as a hook to catch the reader’s interest."
                }
            ],
            "topics": ["Feelings"]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "using any method you can, even a dishonest one",
            "examples": []
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "completely",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "What I said was not true, but he fell for it *(= believed it)* hook, line and sinker."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 1,
            "definition": "having got free from a difficult situation or a punishment",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "I lied to get him off the hook."
                },
                {
                    "text": "No way will she let you off the hook this time."
                },
                {
                    "text": "I was finally off the hook."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": 2,
            "definition": "if you leave or take a landline phone off the hook, you take the receiver (= the part that you pick up) off the place where it usually rests, so that nobody can call you",
            "labels": "(becoming old-fashioned)",
            "cefr": "c2",
            "examples": [],
            "topics": ["Phones, email and the internet"]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "responsible for paying for something",
            "labels": "(North American English, informal)",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "Citizens are increasingly on the hook for more of their own medical costs."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to ring many times, with one phone call after another",
            "examples": [
                {
                    "text": "The phone has been ringing off the hook with offers of help."
                }
            ]
        },
        {
            "senseNumber": null,
            "definition": "to go away",
            "labels": "(British English, informal)",
            "examples": []
        }
    ],
    "pronunciations": {
        "uk": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/hʊk/",
                "audio": "ho/hook/hook__gb_1.mp3"
            }
        ],
        "us": [
            {
                "pronunciation": "/hʊk/",
                "audio": "ho/hook/hook__us_1.mp3"
            }
        ]
    },
    "wordOrigin": "Old English hōc, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hoek ‘corner, angle, projecting piece of land’, also to German Haken ‘hook’."
}