hook and eye
noun
a two-piece clothes fastener, usually of metal, consisting of a hook that catches onto a loop or bar.
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.
Also called eyehook. the two-piece portion of such a device consisting of a hook and a screw eye.
QUIZZES
DISCOVER THE INFLUENCE OF PORTUGUESE ON ENGLISH VIA THIS QUIZ!
We’ve gathered some interesting words donated to English from Portuguese … as well as some that just don’t translate at all. Do you know what they mean?
Question 1 of 11
Which of the following animal names traces its immediate origin to Portuguese?
Origin of hook and eye
First recorded in 1620–30
Words nearby hook and eye
Hoogh, Hooghly, hoo-ha, hook, hookah, hook and eye, hook and ladder, hook-and-ladder company, hook bolt, Hook, Captain, hook check
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
Example sentences from the Web for hook and eye
Some there may be who regard pictures as implements of idolatry, while the Hook-and-Eye Baptists look upon buttons as immoral.
Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great, Volume 5 (of 14)|Elbert HubbardFed upon French rolls and lobster salad and apricot tarts, and give her a lady's maid to hook-and-eye her gown for her!
Mrs. Halliburton's Troubles|Mrs. Henry WoodIt is fastened together by a hook-and-eye arrangement, exactly like those used on ladies' dresses.
The Scrap Book, Volume 1, No. 4|VariousA clasp of leather and a European hook-and-eye fastened the edges.
The Fugitives|R.M. Ballantyne
British Dictionary definitions for hook and eye
hook and eye
noun
a fastening for clothes consisting of a small hook hooked onto a small metal or thread loop
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