One of the mysteries of the English language finally explained.
Synonyms of hook in English:
hook
See definition of hook
noun
1‘she hung her jacket on the hook’
peg, holder
2‘the back of the dress fastens with a hook and eye’
fastener, fastening, catch, clasp, hasp, clip, pin, buckle, hook and eye
fibula
3‘I had a fish on the end of my hook’
fish hook, barb, snare, trap
4‘he used a hook to clear the undergrowth’
billhook, scythe, sickle
5‘a perfectly timed right hook to the chin’
punch, blow, hit, box, cuff, thump, smack, crack, knock, thwack
Northern English Scottish skelp
informal belt, bop, biff, sock, clout, whack, wallop, plug, slug, whop
British informal slosh, dot
North American informal boff
NZ Australian informal dong
verb
1‘they hooked baskets onto the ladder rungs’
attach, fix, hitch, fasten, secure, clasp
archaic hasp, grapple
unhitch
2‘he hooked his thumbs in his belt’
curl, bend, crook, loop, angle, curve
3‘he hooked a 24 lb pike’
catch, take, land, net, bag, snare, ensnare, trap, entrap
release
Phrases
‘the government intends, by hook or by crook, to hold on to the land’
by any means, by any means whatsoever, somehow, somehow or other, no matter how, in one way or another, by fair means or foul
‘he fell hook, line, and sinker for this year's April Fool joke’
completely, totally, utterly, entirely, absolutely, thoroughly, wholly, through and through, one hundred per cent, lock, stock, and barrel
to a limited extent
‘I lied to get him off the hook’
out of trouble, free, in the clear, under no obligation
acquitted, cleared, reprieved, exonerated, absolved, vindicated, found not guilty
let off