by hook or by crook

Definition

By any means possible; one way or another.

Etymology

From earlier by howke or crooke, by hoke ne by croke, etc., from Middle English wiþ hok or crok, wiþ hook or wiþ crok; further origin unknown. One suggestion is that the term is derived from the common of estovers, an ancient right in English law for tenants of land to gather dead wood on common land using blunt tools such as hooks and shepherd’s crooks.

Example Sentences

• "She was determined to win the contract by hook or by crook."
• "Nor wyll suffre this boke / By hoke ne by croke / Prynted for to be, […]"
• "Some out of that inſatiable deſire of filthy lucre, to enrich themſelues, care not hovv they come by it, per fas & nefas [by right and wrong], hooke or crooke, ſo they haue it."