hooker

hooker
Ⅰ. hook·er1 (ho͝ok’ər)
n. 1) A single-masted fishing smack used off the coast of Ireland. 2) An old worn-out or clumsy ship.
[Dutch hoeker, from Middle Dutch hoeckboot : hoec, fishhook; see keg- + boot, boat.]
Ⅱ. hook·er2 (ho͝ok’ər)
n. 1) One that hooks. 2) Slang A prostitute.
Word History: In his Personal Memoirs Ulysses S. Grant described Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker as "a dangerous man ... not subordinate to his superiors." Hooker had his faults. He may indeed have been insubordinate; he was undoubtedly an erratic leader. But "Fighting Joe" Hooker is often accused of one thing he certainly did not do: he did not give his name to prostitutes. According to a popular story about the origin of the term hooker, the men under Hooker's command during the Civil War were a particularly wild bunch who would spend much of their time in brothels when on leave, and thus prostitutes came to be known as hookers. However, this tale of the origin of hooker cannot be true. The explanation of this highlights a procedure that etymologists often use when trying to evaluate proposed etymologies that relate the origin of a word to a specific historical event or to the name of a historical person: if the word is attested before the event occurred, or before the person lived, then the word cannot have originated with that event or in that person's name. In fact, the word hooker with the sense "prostitute" is recorded before the Civil War. As early as 1845 it is found in North Carolina, as reported in Norman Ellsworth Eliason's Tarheel Talk: An Historical Study of the English Language in North Carolina to 1860, published in 1956. It also appears in the second edition of John Russell Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms, published in 1859, where it is defined as "a strumpet, a sailor's trull." Etymologically, it is most likely that hooker is simply "one who hooks or snares clients."
Ⅲ. hook·er3 (ho͝ok’ər)
n. Slang A drink of undiluted hard liquor: »

a hooker of whiskey.

[Probably from the hook-like form of the arm taken in raising a drink to the mouth.]

Word Histories. 2014.

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  • Hooker — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Para otros usos de este término, véase William Jackson Hooker. Hooker, talonador, enganchador o júquer (en inglés, hooker), es una posición del rugby XV. Es el jugador que se sitúa entre los dos pilares en la primera …   Wikipedia Español

  • hooker — (n.) prostitute, often traced to the disreputable morals of the Army of the Potomac (American Civil War) under the tenure of Gen. Fighting Joe Hooker (early 1863), and the word might have been popularized by this association at that time (though… …   Etymology dictionary

  • HOOKER (R.) — HOOKER RICHARD (1554 env. 1600) Théologien anglican qui se montra favorable à l’organisation de l’Église d’Angleterre telle que l’entendait Élisabeth (1558 1603), Richard Hooker, né à Heavitree, près d’Exeter, fit ses études à Oxford, devint… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Hooker — Hooker, OK U.S. city in Oklahoma Population (2000): 1788 Housing Units (2000): 812 Land area (2000): 0.912075 sq. miles (2.362264 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 0.912075 sq. miles (2.362264 sq.… …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • Hooker, OK — U.S. city in Oklahoma Population (2000): 1788 Housing Units (2000): 812 Land area (2000): 0.912075 sq. miles (2.362264 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 0.912075 sq. miles (2.362264 sq. km) FIPS… …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • Hooker — Hook er, n. 1. One who, or that which, hooks. [1913 Webster] 2. (Naut.) (a) A Dutch vessel with two masts. (b) A fishing boat with one mast, used on the coast of Ireland. (c) A sailor s contemptuous term for any antiquated craft. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Hooker [1] — Hooker (Schiffsw.), so v.w. Huker …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Hooker [2] — Hooker (spr. Huker), 1) Richard, geb. 1553 in Exeter, studirte in Oxford, war erst hier Professor der Hebräischen Sprache, wurde 1584 Pfarrer an einer Kirche in Buckinghamshire u. Prediger in London; seit 1591 lebte er in Boscomb in Wiltshire u.… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Hooker — (spr. hucker), 1) Sir William Jackson, Botaniker, geb. 6. Juli 1785 in Norwich, gest. 12. Aug. 1865 in Kew, bereiste 1809 Island und wurde 1815 Professor in Glasgow und 1839 Direktor des Botanischen Gartens in Kew, der unter seiner Leitung das… …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Hooker — Hooker, Mount (spr. maunt hucker), Berg im Felsengebirge in Nordamerika, zwischen Brit. Columbia und dem Distr. Alberta, ca. 2750 m hoch; hier Quelle des Athabasca und des Columbia …   Kleines Konversations-Lexikon

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