by hook or by crook
to make something happen by any means possible
TRANSLATION
unter allen Umständen, auf Biegen oder Brechen, koste was es wolle
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
"Leon Trotsky is trying to kill me. He has every right and reason. By hook or by crook, I defeated him in the power struggle after Lenin's death in '24. I expelled him from the Party. I banished him from Moscow. I exiled him from Russia. I hounded him across Europe and drove him to seek refuge in Mexico earlier this year."
(Richard Lourie - The Autobiography of Joseph Stalin)
(Richard Lourie - The Autobiography of Joseph Stalin)
Did you
know?
Did you know?
No-one knows exactly where the common phrase "by hook or by crook" came from, or what the "hook" and "crook" originally were.
Two interesting theories are:
(1) In 1649 when Oliver Cromwell was planning his invasion of Ireland he said that he would land "by Hook or by Crooke" (Crooke is a small village on the Suir estuary, on the Waterford side, opposite Hook Head).
(2) In the days of Robin Hood, tenants on English manors were not allowed to cut trees for firewood, the lord of the manor permitted them to have all the branches they could pull down with a shepherd's crook or a curved knife on a pole called a "hook." Since firewood was a basic necessity, "by hook or by crook" in this case would have fit the meaning "by any means necessary, even if awkward or difficult."
As the phrase "by hook or by crook" first occurs in print way back in 1380 I'd put my money on theory (2).
No-one knows exactly where the common phrase "by hook or by crook" came from, or what the "hook" and "crook" originally were.
Two interesting theories are:
(1) In 1649 when Oliver Cromwell was planning his invasion of Ireland he said that he would land "by Hook or by Crooke" (Crooke is a small village on the Suir estuary, on the Waterford side, opposite Hook Head).
(2) In the days of Robin Hood, tenants on English manors were not allowed to cut trees for firewood, the lord of the manor permitted them to have all the branches they could pull down with a shepherd's crook or a curved knife on a pole called a "hook." Since firewood was a basic necessity, "by hook or by crook" in this case would have fit the meaning "by any means necessary, even if awkward or difficult."
As the phrase "by hook or by crook" first occurs in print way back in 1380 I'd put my money on theory (2).
