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by hook or by crook

Cultural  
  1. By whatever means possible, fair or unfair: “Polly was determined to get an A on the exam by hook or by crook.”


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Seemingly, all the children of the Valley are being shuttled by their parents toward Stanford, where they will matriculate by hook or by crook.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2026

Still, by hook or by crook, I do hope we eventually tear down the decaying rental infrastructure in order to rebuild a rental car system that is several degrees saner than the one we’ve inherited.

From Slate ● Jul. 28, 2023

"I'm going to have to hope we can get on some kind of train or get to Liverpool somehow by hook or by crook," he adds.

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2022

But the one thing we all agree on, and that we all KNOW, is that by hook or by crook “Company” is coming back!

From New York Times ● May 14, 2020

I would get him to fly us out of here by hook or by crook, is what I was thinking deep in my heart.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

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