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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

Examples from the Web for hook and eye

Historical Examples

  • 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