hake

Etymology 1

From Middle English *hake, from Old English hæca, haca (“hook, bolt, door-fastening, bar”), from Proto-West Germanic *hakō, from Proto-Germanic *hakô (“hook”), from Proto-Indo-European *keg-, *keng- (“peg, hook”). Related to hook. Cognates: Cognate with Dutch haak (“hook”), German Haken (“hook”), Danish hage (“hook”), Swedish hake (“hook”), Icelandic haki (“hook”), Hittite [Term?] (/⁠kagas⁠/, “tooth”), Middle Irish chaing (“weapons rack”), Lithuanian kéngė (“hook, latch”), Russian ко́готь (kógotʹ, “claw”).

noun

1. (Now chiefly dialectal) A hook; a pot-hook.
2. (Now chiefly dialectal) A kind of weapon; a pike.
3. (Now chiefly dialectal) (in the plural) The draught-irons of a plough.

Etymology 2

From Middle English hake, probably a shortened form (due to North Germanic influence) of English dialectal haked (“pike”). Compare Norwegian hakefisk (“trout, salmon”), Middle Low German haken (“kipper”). More at haked.

noun

1. One of several species of marine gadoid fishes, of the genera Phycis, Merluccius, and allies.
   Hake is an expensive fish—and is also very vulnerable to damage by mis-handling. 1964 October, P. Baxter, “Fleetwood is sceptical of BR's fish train plan”, in Modern Railways, page 255

Etymology 3

noun

1. A drying shed, as for unburned tile.
   The clay is taken direct from the bank and made into brick the right temper to place direct from the Machine in the hake on the yard. … take the brick direct from the Machine and put them in the hake to dry. 1882, P. L. Sword & Son, Sword's Improved Patent Brick Machine, in the Adrian City Directories

Etymology 4

Ultimately related to the root of hook. Compare Dutch haken (“to hanker”).

verb

1. (UK, dialect) To loiter; to sneak.
   She'd as well been at school as haking about. 1886, English Dialect Society, Publications: Volume 52