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.
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Nearby words
hoofprint, hooft, hoogh, hooghly, hook, hook and eye, hook and ladder, hook bolt, hook check, hook of holland, hook or crook
Origin of hook and eye
First recorded in 1620–30
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples 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
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