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Glite Dictionary
to sling one's hook

to sling one's hook

9.9
To leave quickly because people do not want you there
  • idiom
  • Archaic
: irse
  • I told you, sling your hook!

Examples

  • Go on then, sling your hook, both of you.

    The Riddle (2007)

  • The teacher told the disruptive student to sling his hook and stop bothering the class.

  • When I asked him to leave the party, he quickly sling his hook without any complaints.

  • After the argument, she decided to sling her hook and find a quieter place to think.

Synonyms

to bail
vsto sling one's hook
  • UK
247 7.1

Leave suddenly to avoid a responsibility or task

is about leaving abruptly when not wanted rather than primarily avoiding duty
to bow out
vsto sling one's hook
20 4.9

To stop doing a job or role politely

is about leaving abruptly or when someone is not wanted, not politely
to shove off
vsto sling one's hook
  • Informal
12 7.7

Leave a place quickly, often in a rude way

is about leaving abruptly but focuses on being unwanted rather than rude
to dip out
vsto sling one's hook
  • Informal
1 9.1

To leave a place quietly or suddenly without telling others

is used when someone leaves abruptly or because they are unwanted, not secretly
to take your hook
vsto sling one's hook
  • Archaic
9.9

Leave a place quickly because you are not welcome

is the same meaning expressed with different wording
to cut his stick
vsto sling one's hook
  • UK
9.9

To leave a place quickly, often to avoid trouble

is used when leaving is abrupt and unwanted rather than only unexpected

Antonyms

to stay
∞ 1.0

To remain in one place and not leave

to linger
207 3.7

To stay in a place longer than expected because you do not want to leave

How Abrupt

to shoo away
5 4.1
to sling one's hook
  • Archaic
9.9
to go away
709 1.0
to leave
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

sling one's hook infinitive
slinging one's hook present participle
slings one's hook third person singular
slung one's hook past
slung one's hook past participle

Morphology

sling + one's + hook

The sense 'to leave' is not predictably built from 'sling' (to throw) + 'one's hook' (one's curved implement); there is no literal throwing-away action that maps clearly to departing. This is a colloquial, historically rooted idiom whose meaning is language-specific and therefore not derivable by a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words.

Etymology

Sling one's hook may come from old fishing or sailing life, where to sling (throw) a hook or pull up an anchor meant you were ready to go. So the phrase came to mean 'leave' or 'go away', often quickly or when you are not wanted.