snap-hook
[f. snap-.]
1. Angling. A device consisting of three or four hooks connected in a special manner.
| 1688 Holme Armoury iii. xxii. (Roxb.) 277/2 The first is termed a Snap Hooke or a Gorge Hooke. 1741 Compl. Family Piece ii. ii. 344 Your Snap-hook..should be made thus: Take two Salmon-Hooks..; turn the Hooks back to back, and place the Gimp in the Middle [etc.]. 1820 T. F. Salter Troller's Guide 90 Snap hooks, dead or plain, are synonimous terms; meaning all hooks used in Jack fishing that are made without springs. 1839 [see snap n. 13 b]. 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Rural Sports i. v. iii. §10. 256 The snap-hook is either the plain or the spring snap hook. [Description of several varieties follows.] |
2. (See quot. 1875.)
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2229/1 Snap-hook, a hook with a spring mousing by which it is prevented from accidental disengagement. 1889 Pall Mall G. 9 July 3/2 A stout leather strap, with a buckle fastening it in front, and snap hooks projecting from each side at the back. |