crook

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An implement or tool, such as a bishop's crosier or a shepherd's staff, with a bent or curved part.
• noun A part that is curved or bent like a hook.
• noun A curve or bend; a turn.
• noun Informal One who makes a living by dishonest methods.
• intransitive verb To make a crook in; bend.
• intransitive verb To bend or curve.
• adjective Out of order; faulty.
• adjective Not well; ill.
• adjective Of poor quality; inferior.
• adjective Not honest; crooked.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A name given to both the parenthesis ( ) and the square bracket [].
• To bend; cause to assume an angular or a curved form; make a curve or hook in.
• To curl (hair). Ayenbite of Inwit, p. 176.
• To turn; pervert; misapply.
• To thwart.
• To bend or be bent; be turned from a right line; curve; wind.
• Specifically To bend the knee; crouch.
• noun Any bend, turn, or curve; a curvature; a flexure: as, a crook in a river or in a piece of timber.
• noun A bending of the knee; a genuflection.
• noun A bent or curved part; a curving piece or portion of anything: as, the crook of a cane or of an umbrella-handle.
• noun An instrument or implement having a crook, or distinguished by its curved form.
• noun The pastoral staff of a bishop or an abbot, fashioned in the form of a shepherd's staff, as a symbol of his sway over and care for his flock. Such staves are generally gilt, ornamented with jewels, and enriched by carving, etc. Compare pastoral staff, under staff.
• noun A hook hung in an open chimney to support a pot or kettle; a pot-hook or trammel.
• noun In music: A short tube, either curved or straight, that may be inserted into various metal wind-instruments so as to lengthen their tube, and thus lower their fundamental tone or key. The curved metal tube between the mouthpiece and the body of a bassoon.
• noun A sickle.
• noun A lock or curl of hair. Compare crocket.
• noun A gibbet.
• noun A support consisting of a post or pile with a cross-beam resting upon it; a bracket or truss consisting of a vertical piece, a horizontal piece, and a strut.
• noun An artifice; a trick; a contrivance.
• noun A dishonest person; one who is crooked in conduct; a tricky or underhand schemer; a thief; a swindley.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• intransitive verb To bend; to curve; to wind; to have a curvature.
• transitive verb To turn from a straight line; to bend; to curve.
• transitive verb Archaic To turn from the path of rectitude; to pervert; to misapply; to twist.
• noun A bend, turn, or curve; curvature; flexure.
• noun Any implement having a bent or crooked end.
• noun The staff used by a shepherd, the hook of which serves to hold a runaway sheep.
• noun A bishop's staff of office. Cf. Pastoral staff.
• noun A pothook.
• noun An artifice; trick; tricky device; subterfuge.
• noun (Mus.) A small tube, usually curved, applied to a trumpet, horn, etc., to change its pitch or key.
• noun Cant, U.S. A person given to fraudulent practices; an accomplice of thieves, forgers, etc.
• noun in some way or other; by fair means or foul.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A bend; turn; curve; curvature; a flexure.
• noun A bending of the knee; a genuflection.
• noun A bent or curved part; a curving piece or portion (of anything).
• noun obsolete A lock or curl of hair.
• noun obsolete A gibbet.
• noun obsolete A support beam consisting of a post with a cross-beam resting upon it; a bracket or truss consisting of a vertical piece, a horizontal piece, and a strut.
• noun A shepherd's crook; a staff with a semi-circular bend ("hook") at one end used by shepherds.