hook
{{Short description|Tool used to grab onto, connect, or attach to something}}
{{other uses}}
{{More citations needed|date=November 2023}}
File:KamAZ-53213 Kranaufbau.jpg with a standard round hook and a gated opening]]
A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's design allows traction forces to be relayed through the curved/indented portion to and from the proximal end of the hook, which is either a straight shaft (known as the hook's shank) or a ring (sometimes called the hook's "eye") for attachment to a thread, rope or chain, providing a reversible attachment between two objects.
In many cases, the distal end of the hook is sharply pointed to enable penetration into the target material, providing a firmer anchorage. Some hooks, particularly fish hooks, also have a barb, a backwards-pointed projection near the pointed end that functions as a secondary "mini-hook" to catch and trap surrounding material, ensuring that the hook point cannot be easily pulled back out once embedded in the target.
Variations
- Bagging hook, a large sickle or reaping hook used for harvesting grain{{Cite journal |doi=10.1080/00438243.1985.9979955 |last=Unger-Hamilton |first=Romana |title=Microscopic Striations on Flint Sickle-Blades as an Indication of Plant Cultivation: Preliminary Results |journal=World Archaeology |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=121–6 |date=July 1985}}{{Cite journal |doi=10.2307/3210656 |last=Banning|first=E.B.|title=The Neolithic Period: Triumphs of Architecture, Agriculture, and Art |jstor=3210656|journal=Near Eastern Archaeology |volume=61 |issue=4 |pages=188–237 |year=1998|s2cid=164006022 }}
- Bondage hook, used in sexual bondage play
- Cabin hook, a hooked bar that engages into an eye screw, used on doors{{cite book |title=Beazley's Design and Detail of the Space Between Buildings |last=Beazley |first=Elisabeth |year=1990 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-0-419-13620-0 |pages=230 }}{{cite book |title=Carpentry and Joinery 3 |last=Porter |first=Brian |author2=Christopher Tooke |year=2007 |publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann |isbn=978-0-7506-6505-6 |pages=200}}
- Cap hook, hat ornament of the 15th and 16th centuries
- Cargo hook, different types of hook systems for helicopters
- Clothes hook or "coat hook", hooks for storing garments, typically mounted on walls or vertical surfaces
- Crochet hook, used for crocheting thread or yarn
- Drapery hook, for hanging drapery
- Dress hook, fashion accessory
- Ear hook, to attach earrings
- Fish hook, used to catch fish
- Flesh-hook, used in cooking meat
- Grappling hook, a hook attached to a rope, designed to be thrown and snagged on a target
- Hook and chain coupler, mechanical part for the coupling for railway vehicles
- Hook (hand tool), also known as longshoreman's hook and bale hook, a tool used for securing and moving loads
- Hook-and-eye closure, a clothing fastener
- Hook-and-loop fastener, a type of textile fastener
- Hook hand, also called prosthesis, an artificial hand replacement made from a hook
- Lifting hook, for grabbing and lifting loads
- Mail hook, for grabbing mail bags without stopping a train
- Meat hook, for hanging up meat or carcasses of animals in butcheries and meat industry
- Prosthetic hook or transradial prosthesis, part of a prosthetic arm for amputees
- Purse hook, used to keep a woman's purse from touching the floor
- Shaker peg, used to hang up garments, bags, chairs, etc on a vertical surface
- Shepherd's hook, a staff used in herding sheep or other animals
- Siege hook, an Ancient Roman weapon used to pull stones from a wall during a siege
- Tailhook, used by aircraft to snag cables in order to slow down more quickly
{{wiktionary|hook}}
Gallery
File:Door hook.jpg|A cabin hook used as a latch for a wooden gate
File:FishHooks.JPG|Fish hooks are pointed and often barbed to help catch and tether a fish's mouth
File:Imperial Japanese Navy Battleship Hiei main anchor at JMSDF Kanoya Naval Air Base Museum April 29, 2017 02.jpg|The main anchor of IJN battleship Hiei with the classic double-hook design
File:HK Sheung Wan 衣架 Clothes hangers by plastic in red June-2012.JPG|Clothes hangers with a top hook to hang onto a crossbar or a clothesline
File:Shaker Peg.jpg|Installation of a Shaker peg
File:Kaginawa.JPG|A grappling hook with multiple hooks to increase the chances of catching and anchoring onto a surface or an object
File:Grøn struk (8875448182).jpg|A crochet hook with a deep hooking groove near the tip, used to pull yarns during embroidery
File:Hook and eye clasp.JPG|A hook-and-eye clasp is composed of two pieces that are sewn to clothing, one of which serves as a hook while the other as a staple
File:Jäppilä.vaakuna.svg|upright|Golden pothook pictured in the coat of arms of Jäppilä