Hook

In many cases, the distal end of the hook is sharply pointed to enable penetration into the target material, providing a firmer anchorage. Some hooks, particularly fish hooks, also have a barb, a backwards-pointed projection near the pointed end that functions as a secondary "mini-hook" to catch and trap surrounding material, ensuring that the hook point cannot be easily pulled back out once embedded in the target.

Variations

• Bagging hook, a large sickle or reaping hook used for harvesting grain
• Bondage hook, used in sexual bondage play
• Cabin hook, a hooked bar that engages into an eye screw, used on doors
• Cap hook, hat ornament of the 15th and 16th centuries
• Cargo hook, different types of hook systems for helicopters
• Clothes hook or "coat hook", hooks for storing garments, typically mounted on walls or vertical surfaces
• Crochet hook, used for crocheting thread or yarn
• Drapery hook, for hanging drapery
• Dress hook, fashion accessory
• Ear hook, to attach earrings
• Fish hook, used to catch fish
• Flesh-hook, used in cooking meat
• Grappling hook, a hook attached to a rope, designed to be thrown and snagged on a target
• Hook and chain coupler, mechanical part for the coupling for railway vehicles
• Hook (hand tool), also known as "longshoreman's hook" or "bale hook", a tool used for securing and moving cargo
• Hook-and-eye closure, a clothing fastener
• Hook-and-loop fastener, a type of textile fastener
• Hook hand, also called prosthesis, an artificial hand replacement made from a hook
• Lifting hook, for grabbing and lifting loads
• Mail hook, for grabbing mail bags without stopping a train
• Meat hook, for hanging up meat or carcasses of animals in butcheries and meat industry
• Prosthetic hook or transradial prosthesis, part of a prosthetic arm for amputees
• Purse hook, used to keep a woman's purse from touching the floor
• Shaker peg, used to hang up garments, bags, chairs, etc on a vertical surface
• Shepherd's hook, a staff used in herding sheep or other animals
• Siege hook, an Ancient Roman weapon used to pull stones from a wall during a siege
• Snook hook, a surgical tool used for the spaying of female animals
• Tailhook, used by aircraft to snag cables in order to slow down more quickly