pothook
Americannoun
-
a hook for suspending a pot or kettle over an open fire.
-
an iron rod, usually curved, with a hook at the end, used to lift hot pots, irons, stove lids, etc.
-
an S -shaped stroke in writing, especially as made by children in learning to write.
noun
-
a curved or S-shaped hook used for suspending a pot over a fire
-
a long hook used for lifting hot pots, lids, etc
-
an S-shaped mark, often made by children when learning to write
Etymology
Origin of pothook
First recorded in 1425–75, pothook is from the late Middle English word pottehok. See pot 1, hook 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Seven are strictly one-man shows in which the proprietor hustles ads and copy, cribs items from the old newspapers arriving by train, cuts by hand the pothook stencils of the Urdu script.
From Time Magazine Archive
![]()
His writing was small, compressed, irregular and often far from easy to read; when he suppressed a passage, he used a form of pothook erasure which rendered the condemned phrase absolutely illegible.
From Honore de Balzac by Frederic Taber Cooper
The trenches ran along in a pothook shape from Rhododendron Spur down to the Cheshire Ridge, on the north side.
From The 28th: A Record of War Service in the Australian Imperial Force, 1915-19, Vol. I Egypt, Gallipoli, Lemnos Island, Sinai Peninsula by Herbert Brayley Collett
Sophie would demand from her seat by the pothook; and Mrs. Cloke would answer, smoothing her knees, "For the sake of the place."
From Actions and Reactions by Rudyard Kipling
Bobby rose, as he spoke, and planted his feet accurately on the middle pothook of the hearthrug.
From The Dominant Strain by H. C. (Harry C.) Edwards
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.