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Added 10 October 2026

hooker

/ˈhʊkə/ noun

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about hooker at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

One who, or that which, hooks.
A player who hooks the ball out of the scrum with his foot.
A batsman or batswoman adept at or fond of playing hook shots.

noun

A prostitute. .mw-parser-output .defdate{font-size:smaller}
An imprecise measure of alcoholic drink; a "slug" (of gin), or an overlarge gulp.

noun

Alternative spelling of hookah.

noun

A small fishing boat.
Any antiquated craft.

Origin

Unknown. The "prostitute" sense is the subject of a folk etymology connecting it to General Hooker of the American Civil War, but the earliest known use dates to 1835, decades before the war. Less implausibly, it has also been connected to a coastal feature called a hook (“A spit or narrow cape of sand or gravel turned landward at the outer end, such as Sandy Hook in New Jersey, Red Hook in New York”) in the ports of New York and Baltimore. Carefully learned inference is not conclusive. See this essay, pp 105ff.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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