by hook or by crook

1. 1.

   in any way necessary; by any possible means

   “I'll pass this course by hook or by crook”

Questions about by hook or by crook

What does by hook or by crook mean?

by hook or by crook means "in any way necessary; by any possible means".

Is by hook or by crook a common word?

by hook or by crook is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.