crook

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
crook/krʊk/

▶noun

• 1 a shepherd's hooked staff.

  ■ a bishop's crozier.

• 2 a bend, especially at the elbow in a person's arm.

• 3 informal a person who is dishonest or a criminal.

▶verb bend (something, especially a finger as a signal). ▶adjective Austral./NZ informal bad, unsound, or unwell.

■ dishonest or illegal.

– derivatives
crookery noun.

– origin ME: from ON krókr ‘hook’.