hook off

Verb

hook off (third-person singular simple present hooks off, present participle hooking off, simple past and past participle hooked off)

1. To unhook or remove from a hook.
   • At about 4.5 p.m. it come back, tender in front, with 15 or 16 waggons, and stopped with the last of the waggons clear of No. 7; about five were hooked off and let down into the siding by gravity, and as soon as I had restored No. 7 point for the main line, the driver had put the engine into...1891, Great Britain. Board of Trade, Railway Returns for England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, page 37
   • The guard then hooked off the engine and told us to run round the train with the engine.1894, Great Britain. Ministry of Transport, Returns of Accidents and Casualties, page 41
2. To curve to the side from a straight trajectory.
   • The road you were on would change; you'd be driving on 35, and if you missed the small road that hooked off to the left, you'd suddenly be on 211.2007, Katharine Noel, Halfway House, page 210
   • Long black hair tied back in a real flip-pin' ponytail; smooth white skin; black, flashing eyes; and eyebrows that hooked off like they wanted to get somewhere real fast.2014, Harlan Ellison, The Deadly Streets
3. To remove with a hooking motion.
   • Rub-a-rub, rub-a-rub, three dabs and scrub, Two covers hooked off the arm-chairs Them dusters and towels, each marked with two vowels, Will bring a good thing, I declares!1856, “The Housemaid”, in Young America, volume 1, page 292
   • The telephone rang and Pearce hooked off the receiver.2012, Michael Gilbert, Sky High, page 174
4. (slang) To depart, especially when finishing something or giving up on something.
   • "Somebody has hooked off with your pie," he blurted in a desponding tone.1869, Emily Thompson, Kingswood; or, the Harker Family Second thousand, page 67
   • "I expect he was ashamed to give it [a present] after all," Oswald said, "so he hooked off home with it."1904, E[dith] Nesbit, “(please specify the page)”, in New Treasure Seekers, London: Ernest Benn, →OCLC
5. To punch with the arm rigid and partially bent.
   • Cody hooked off his jab and tagged Ray with a smart left.2007, Stephen H. Foreman, Toehold, page 246
   • AJ turned to me and Juan hooked off on him.2017, Tina J, All Eyes on the Crown