English

Noun

hoke ‎(plural hokes)

1. (obsolete) Alternative form of hook
   • 1535, William Tyndale, Myles Coverdale (translators), The ii boke of Moses [Exodus] 28, The Holy Scriptures, unnumbered page,

     Thou shalt make hokes of golde also, and two wrethē cheynes of pure golde, and shalt fasten them vnto the hokes.

Related terms

• hoked (adjective)

Etymology 2

From hokum.

Verb

hoke ‎(third-person singular simple present hokes, present participle hoking, simple past and past participle hoked)

1. (slang) To ascribe a false or artificial quality to; to pretend falsely to have some quality or to be doing something, etc.
   • 1993, Reed Whittemore, Jack London, Six Literary Lives, page 70,

     He even checked the Thomas Cooke & Son travel people about how to get to the East End (here he was hoking a bit), learning that they were ready to advise him on how to journey to any point in the world except the East End. Then he hailed a cab and found (here he was hoking further) that the cab driver didn't know how to get there either.

   • 1999, David Lewis, 15: Humean Supervenience Debugged, Papers in Metaphysics and Epistemology, Volume 2, page 228,

     If we define partitions of alternative cases by means of ingeniously hoked-up properties, we can get the principle to say almost anything we like.

   • 2008, Terry Penner, 12: The Forms and the Sciences in Socrates and Plato, Hugh H. Benson (editor), A Companion to Plato, page 179,

     If it be asked how we come to talk about them, the answer is: for purposes of rejecting these misbegotten creatures of sophistic imaginations, “hoked up” with such things as interest, strength, and the like, which do exist, although only outside of these combinations.

Derived terms

• hokey

Noun

hoke ‎(plural hokes)

1. Something contrived or artificial.

Etymology 3

Compare Scots howk.

Verb

hoke ‎(third-person singular simple present hokes, present participle hoking, simple past and past participle hoked)

1. (Ireland) To scrounge, to grub.
   • 1987, Seamus Heaney, Terminus, The Haw Lantern, 2010, unnumbered page,

     When I hoked there, I would find / An acorn and a rusted bolt

   • 2000, John Kelly, The Little Hammer, unnumbered page,

     We met when I was hoking about in the rocks – just the sort of thing a virtual only child does to put in the day.