Hook or Crook (By)

Either rightfully or wrongfully; in one way or another. Formerly the poor of a manor were allowed to go into the forests with a hook and crook to get wood. What they could not reach they might pull down with their crook. The French equivalent is “A droit ou à tort,” or “De bric et de broc.” Either with the thief’s hook or the bishop’s crook. Mrs. S. C. Hall, in her Ireland (vol. ii. p. 149 n.), states, as the origin of this phrase, that when the ships of Strongbow were entering Waterford harbour he noticed a tower on one side and a church on the other. Inquiring their names, he was told it was the “Tower of Hook” and the “Church of Crook.” Then said he, “We must take the town by Hook and by Crook.” There is no such person as St. Crook mentioned by the Bollandists.