by hook or by crook

English

Etymology

Origin obscure; see by hook or by crook.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Prepositional phrase

by hook or by crook

1. (idiomatic) By any means possible; one way or another.

   She was determined to win the contract, by hook or by crook.

   • 1794 October 26, George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, in The Writings of George Washington, edited by John C. Fitzpatrick, volume 34 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1940), page 9:

     PS. I hope you will be enabled by Hook, or by Crook, to send B---- and H---- together with a certain Mr. Guthrie, to Philadelphia for their winter Quarters.

   • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

     In these fields of Mr. Tulkinghorn's inhabiting, where the shepherds play on Chancery pipes that have no stop, and keep their sheep in the fold by hook and by crook until they have shorn them exceeding close, […]

   • 1872 September – 1873 July, Thomas Hardy, A Pair of Blue Eyes. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1873, →OCLC:

     ‘And, by hook or by crook, Hedger Luxellian was made a lord, and everything went on well till some time after, when he got into a most terrible row with King Charles the Fourth.

   • 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 198:

     I wouldn’t have believed it of myself; but, then - you see - I felt somehow I must get there by hook or by crook.

Translations

by any means possible

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: de grat o per força, de tota manera
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 千方百計／千方百计 (zh) (qiānfāngbǎijì), 不擇手段／不择手段 (zh) (bùzéshǒuduàn)

• Danish: koste hvad det vil (no matter the cost), med hiv og sving (by a great effort)
• Finnish: puukoin ja puntarein, keinolla millä hyvänsä
• French: de gré ou de force (fr), coûte que coûte (fr), quoi qu’il en coûte
• Galician: por calquer xeito, como for
• German: auf Biegen und Brechen (de), auf Teufel komm raus (de), um jeden Preis, mit Haken und Ösen (de)
• Hungarian: bármi áron, bármilyen eszközzel, ha törik, ha szakad
• Latin: unde unde
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: nie przebierając w środkach
• Portuguese: como for, por bem ou por mal
• Russian: все́ми пра́вдами и непра́вдами (ru) (vsémi právdami i neprávdami), не мытьём, так ка́таньем (ne mytʹjóm, tak kátanʹjem)
• Scottish Gaelic: a dh'olc no a dh'èiginn, olc no èiginn
• Spanish: por todos los medios, de una forma u otra, de grado o por fuerza
• Swedish: på ett eller ett annat sätt, på ett sätt eller annat, på ett eller annat sätt
• Telugu: ఏదో విధంగా (ēdō vidhaṅgā)
• Thai: ไม่ได้ด้วยเล่ห์ก็เอาด้วยกล ไม่ได้ด้วยมนต์ก็เอาด้วยคาถา (mâi-dâai-dûai-lêe-gɔ̂-ao-dûai-gon mâi-dâai-dûai-mon-gɔ̂-ao-dûai-kaa-tǎa) (literally "If you can't get it through tricks, use wiles; if you still can't get it by spells, then use charms")
• Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• by hook or by crook on Wikipedia.Wikipedia