Crooking is a verb to refer to the action of creating a bend or curve; for example, crooking a finger. A crook may be anything that is crooked thusly. Specifically, a crook is a tool with a crook in it, such as a shepherd's or bishop's staff.
In music, a crook is a length of tubing used to change the pitch of a natural horn or other brass instrument; by removing one crook of a given length and replacing it with a crook of another, the entire pitch of the instrument would change. A crook is also the term for a bent or curved pipe that connects the reed to the instrument body on some double reed instruments; in American usage this is generally called a bocal.
Crook is a slang term for a criminal or a person of questionable morality. Its most famous use in U.S. history came in a speech by president Richard Nixon, who while defending himself from the Watergate scandal proclaimed: "I am not a crook." The adjective crooked can refer to such persons or actions. This version of the term may also be archaically used as a verb in reference to becoming a criminal or causing another to become a criminal.
In Australian slang, crook can be an adjective referring to poor quality, either physically or mentally.
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William Crookes was born in London, he was the eldest son of Joseph Crookes, a tailor of north-country origin, by his second wife, Mary Scott.
For many years Crookes conducted laborious experiments on the elements of the rare earths, elements so similar to one another in chemical properties that special methods for their separation had to be devised.
Crookes published numerous papers on spectroscopy, a subject which always had a great fascination for him, and he made researches on a large variety of minor subjects.
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