hook and eye

American  

noun

1. a two-piece clothes fastener, usually of metal, consisting of a hook that catches onto a loop or bar.

2. a three-piece latching device consisting of a hook attached to a screw eye or an eyebolt and a separate screw eye or eyebolt that the hook engages as it bridges a gap, as one between a door and a jamb or a gate and a gatepost.

3. Also called eyehook.  the two-piece portion of such a device consisting of a hook and a screw eye.

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hook and eye British  

noun

1. a fastening for clothes consisting of a small hook hooked onto a small metal or thread loop

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Etymology

Origin of hook and eye

First recorded in 1620–30

Example Sentences

She wore boots laced up at the side, or long boots of soft leather fastened with hook and eye; shoes like a man’s, but not so pointed and extreme.

From English Costume by Calthrop, Dion Clayton

Everybody knows it down to the last hook and eye… Oh, well, I'll stay home.

From Broken to the Plow by Dobie, Charles Caldwell

“I wonder,” Vi was sitting on the bed, sewing a hook and eye on the dress she had intended to wear, “if Amanda Peabody and The Shadow will be there.”

From Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island The Mystery of the Wreck by Wheeler, Janet D.

Did you feel a thrill of pleasure when the last hook and eye was fastened and you surveyed yourself in the longest mirror in the house?

From Grace Harlowe's Plebe Year at High School The Merry Doings of the Oakdale Freshmen Girls by Flower, Jessie Graham [pseud.]

I gasped, as Sallie fastened the last hook and eye and stood beside Mammy to admire me.

From The Heart's Kingdom by Daviess, Maria Thompson

Related Words

• hook
• snap