English · Idiom Historical

he is off the hooks

Preserved but no longer current.

Meaning · English

Done for, laid on the shelf, superseded, dead. The bent pieces of iron on which the hinges of a gate rest and turn are called hooks.

Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)

Sources & notes

Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.

Topics: Historical slang (1800s)

Common questions

What does “he is off the hooks” mean?

Done for, laid on the shelf, superseded, dead. The bent pieces of iron on which the hinges of a gate rest and turn are called hooks.

Is “he is off the hooks” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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