"By hook or by crook" is an English phrase meaning "by any means necessary", suggesting that any means possible should be taken to accomplish a goal. The phrase was first recorded in the Middle English Controversial Tracts of John Wyclif in 1380.

Where does by hook or by crook come from?

Either by hooke or crooke, by night or day. - Suggestion number one is that 'by hook or by crook' derives from the custom in medieval England of allowing peasants to take from royal forests whatever deadwood they could pull down with a shepherd's crook or cut with a reaper's bill-hook.

How do you use by hook or by crook?

He is determined to get some money by hook or by crook. Some students do not hesitate to use unfair means, they want to pass the examination by hook or by crook. He passed the examination by hook or by crook. You will do this work by hook or by crook.