by hook or crook

Idioms  

1. By any means possible, in one way or another. For example, The car broke down, but I'll get there by hook or crook. This term has a disputed origin. A widely held theory is that it comes from the custom of allowing commoners to take as much wood from royal forests as they could reach with a shepherd's crook and cut down with a billhook. [1300s] Also see the synonym by any means.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

by hook or crook

“Catastrophe” felt more like the first decade of my marriage, which was very confusing, trying by hook or crook to shed bad habits that I had.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2025

It’s also good enough for the federal government, which has been trying by hook or crook to increase supplies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2020

And he just kept going, winning primaries by hook or crook, all the way to the end.

From Salon ● Oct. 19, 2016

If we are weak, they will want ours too, by hook or crook.

From New York Times ● Jul. 3, 2012

But I tell you right here I've got to make that hundred thousand dollars in six months, and I'm going to do it by hook or crook, if there's half a smell of a chance.

From The Son of his Father by Ridgwell Cullum

Related Words

• anyway