Word.ws English Dictionary

crooked as a barrel of fish hooks

crooked as a barrel of fish hooks phrase: very unscrupulous and deceptive.

Phrase

crooked as a barrel of fish hooks

  1. (US, derogatory, informal, simile) Very unscrupulous and deceptive.
    • But Father said this man was as crooked as a barrel of fish hooks. He never went near him if he could help it.1940, Omnibook, Incorporated (publisher), Omnibook Magazine, volume 3, number 1, page 125
    • And now, to top it off, Enron executive Kenneth Lay, who is as crooked as a barrel of fish hooks, is following the Bush example of hypocrisy by saying that he is praying that God will help him get through.2002, Triumph Prophetic Ministries (contributor), Prophecy Flash!, volume 16, page 40

Questions about crooked as a barrel of fish hooks

What does crooked as a barrel of fish hooks mean?
Crooked as a barrel of fish hooks means very unscrupulous and deceptive.
What part of speech is crooked as a barrel of fish hooks?
Crooked as a barrel of fish hooks is a phrase.

Words near crooked as a barrel of fish hooks in the dictionary

  1. crookbacks
  2. crookbill
  3. crookbills
  4. Crooke
  5. crooked
  6. crooked as a barrel of fish hooks
  7. crooked as a barrel of snakes
  8. crooked as a dog's hind leg
  9. Crooked Corner
  10. Crooked Creek
  11. crooked number

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: crooked as a barrel of fish hooks (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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