acrook

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English

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Etymology

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From a- +‎ crook.

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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acrook (not comparable)

  1. (archaic) In an oblique or crooked direction.
    Synonyms: askew, awry, crookedly, obliquely
    • c. 1553, Nicholas Udall, edited by Edward Arber, Roister Doister[1], Birmingham, published 1869, Act IV, Scene 3, p. 62:
      C. Custance. Wife, why cal ye me wife?
      Sim Sure. Wife? this gear goth acrook.
    • 1625, “The Pillars, or fourth Booke of Noe”, in William L’Isle, transl., Part of Du Barts English and French[2], London: John Haviland, page 158:
      Loe, is not there the draught of some gold-sandy brooke
      That on this azure ground glydes (as it were) acrooke?
    • 1881, Christina Rossetti, “Behold the Man!”, in A Pageant and Other Poems[3], London: Macmillan, page 177:
      [] our spirits immersed / In wilfulness, our steps run all acrook.
    • 1905, Albert G. Latham, transl., Goethe’s Faust[4], London: J.M. Dent, published 1908, Part 1, p. 25:
      And night ten years, o’er rough and smooth,
      And up and down, and acrook and across,
      I lead my pupils by the nose,

Adjective

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acrook (not comparable)

  1. (of a body part) Bent or formed into a hook.
    Synonyms: bent, crooked
    • 1905, Eudorus C. Kenney, “Jack and the Sparrows” in Some More Thusettes, Cortland, NY: The Democrat Printery, p. 7,[5]
      So Jack of salt a handful took /
      And slyly watched with neck acrook
      The sparrows.
    • 1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 198:
      "Arm acrook, too, a-thinkin’ thet in ther dark all cats is grey."
    • 1954, Eilís Dillon, chapter 3, in The San Sebastian[6], New York: Funk & Wagnalls, page 57:
      His knees were acrook and his feet lifted on their toes as if they were ready for flight.
  2. (uncommon) Not in its proper place or properly oriented.
    Synonym: askew
    • 1994, Jean Brown, chapter 26, in We’ll See the Cuckoo[7], Lancaster: Palatine Books, published 2004, page 519:
      The whole evening [] lay empty ahead of us. What bliss! There was not a pin acrook in the house, the washing up would be done []