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

See Examples For:

hook and eye

It was Ruth's suggestion that the coats would be improved by a single hook and eye sewed on in the small of the back where the buttons usually are.

From The Gilded Age, Part 3. by Charles Dudley Warner

"Still have to use a hook and eye at the bottom of the coat—blouse," he corrected himself.

From Dangerous Days by Mary Roberts Rinehart

Good-bye!' said he, feeling for the unfastened hook and eye on his coat.

From The Cossacks by Leo Tolstoy, Count

Finish, to correspond with, collar, placing a rosette in the centre of the cuff, and fastening with a hook and eye.

From The Lady's Album of Fancy Work for 1850 by Unknown

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 Jessie Graham [pseud.] Flower

Related Words

• hook
• snap