different between nook vs snook

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: no?ok, IPA^(key): /n?k/
• (obsolete) enPR: no?ok, IPA^(key): /nu?k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Etymology

From Middle English noke, nok (“nook, corner, angle”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots neuk, nuk (“corner, angle of a square, angular object”). Perhaps from Old English hnoc, hnocc (“hook, angle”), from Proto-Germanic *hnukkaz, *hnukkô (“a bend”), from Proto-Indo-European *knewg- (“to turn, press”), from Proto-Indo-European *ken- (“to pinch, press, bend”). If so, then also related to Scots nok (“small hook”), Norwegian dialectal nok, nokke (“hook, angle, bent object”), Danish nok (“hook”), Swedish nock (“ridge”), Faroese nokki (“crook”), Icelandic hnokki (“hook”), Dutch nok (“ridge”), Low German Nocke (“tip”), Old Norse hnúka (“to bend, crouch”), Old English ?ehnycned (“drawn, pinched, wrinkled”).

Noun

nook (plural nooks)

1. A small corner formed by two walls; an alcove.

   Synonyms: alcove, ancone, recess

2. A hidden or secluded spot; a secluded retreat.

3. A recess, cove or hollow.

   Synonym: niche
4. (historical) An English unit of land area, originally ¹?₄ of a yardland but later 12+¹?₂ or 20 acres.

   Synonym: fardel

   • a. 1634, W. Noye, The Complete Lawyer, 57:

     You must note, that two Fardells of Land make a Nooke of Land, and two Nookes make halfe a Yard of Land.

   • 1903, English Dialectical Dictionary, volume IV, page 295:

     Nook, an old legal term for 12+¹?₂ acres of land; still in use at Alston.

   • 1968, November 9, The Economist, page 2:

     They poured their wine by the aume or the fust, and cut their cloth by the goad—not to be confused with the gawd, which was a measure of steel. Their nook was not cosy; it covered 20 acres.

6. (chiefly Northern England, archaic) A corner of a piece of land; an angled piece of land, especially one extending into other land.

Alternative forms

• (corner of a piece of land): nuke

Hypernyms

• (unit of area): See hundred (16,000 nooks); see carucate (16); see virgate (4); see oxgang (2)

Hyponyms

• (unit of area): See fardel (¹?₂ nook), see acre (various fractions & for further subdivisions)

Derived terms

Related terms

• inglenook

Translations

Verb

nook (third-person singular simple present nooks, present participle nooking, simple past and past participle nooked)

1. To withdraw into a nook.
2. To situate in a nook.

References

Anagrams

• Kono

English

Alternative forms

• snoek

Pronunciation

• enPR: sno?ok, IPA^(key): /snu?k/
• Rhymes: -u?k

Etymology 1

Dutch snoek (“pike, Esox”)

Noun

snook (plural snooks)

1. A freshwater and marine fish of the family Centropomidae in the order Perciformes.
   1. Centropomus undecimalis, the common snook.
2. Any of various other ray-finned fishes in several families.

Verb

snook (third-person singular simple present snooks, present participle snooking, simple past and past participle snooked)

1. To fish for snook.

Derived terms

• bay snook
• common snook

Etymology 2

From the 19th century. Unknown origin, possibly related to snoot or snout.

Noun

snook (plural snooks)

1. (Britain, derogatory, as a gesture) A disrespectful gesture, performed by placing the tip of a thumb on one's nose with the fingers spread, and typically while wiggling the fingers back and forth.

Derived terms

• cock a snook
• cocking of a snook
• snook-cocker
• snook-cocking

Verb

snook (third-person singular simple present snooks, present participle snooking, simple past and past participle snooked)

1. (obsolete) To sniff out.
2. (obsolete) To lurk; to lie in ambush.

References

• Michael Quinion (2004) , “Snook”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, ?ISBN

Anagrams

• Konos, nooks