acrook

English

Etymology

a- +‎ crook

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈkɹʊk/

Adverb

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

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 […]