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hook and eye

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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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Origin of hook and eye

First recorded in 1620–30
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for hook and eye

snap, hook, clamp, clip, buckle, bolt, latch, hasp, clasp

Examples from the Web for hook and eye

Historical Examples of hook and eye

  • A clasp of leather and a European hook-and-eye fastened the edges.

    The Fugitives

    R.M. Ballantyne

  • Some there may be who regard pictures as implements of idolatry, while the Hook-and-Eye Baptists look upon buttons as immoral.

  • Fed upon French rolls and lobster salad and apricot tarts, and give her a lady's maid to hook-and-eye her gown for her!

  • It is fastened together by a hook-and-eye arrangement, exactly like those used on ladies' dresses.

British Dictionary definitions for hook and eye

hook and eye

noun
  1. a fastening for clothes consisting of a small hook hooked onto a small metal or thread loop
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012