off the hook
- 1Freed from a duty, burden, or responsibility, or no longer facing pressure or blame.
The manager took the blame himself, leaving the whole team off the hook.
Paying the fine in full got him off the hook with the court.
Similarfree, exonerated
Oppositeaccountable, liable
Note
The fisherman's image is plain here: a fish worked loose from the line swims free. The phrase usually travels with let or get (the police let the suspect off the hook), and its opposite is on the hook, still answerable for something. It covers blame as readily as chores, because escaping an accusation and escaping a task are the same kind of release.
- 2Of a telephone, having the receiver lifted so the connection stays open rather than properly hung up.
She knocked the phone off the hook and didn't notice for an hour.
With the landline off the hook, callers heard nothing but a busy tone.
Note
The image comes from the candlestick phone, whose receiver had to hang on a hook for a call to end. Lift it off and the line stayed open, so no other call could get through. Leaving a phone off the hook was therefore a deliberate way to be left alone, and the phrase most often follows leave or knock.
- 3Of a telephone, ringing again and again because of a high volume of incoming calls.
The radio station's lines were ringing off the hook with contest entries.
When the story broke, reporters had the newsroom phones ringing off the hook.
Note
The same telephone hook as the receiver left lifted, put to the opposite use. Instead of a silenced line, it describes a phone too busy to rest. The phrase almost always rides on the verb ring, as in ringing off the hook all night. Without ringing it would read as an open line, so the verb is what carries the meaning.
- 4Exceptionally cool and up to date; excellent to the point of seeming incredible.
Her custom sneakers are absolutely off the hook this season.
The light show at the concert was off the hook.
Similarawesome, amazing, dope, sick
Oppositelame
Note
Slang praise for parties, sneakers and light shows, at home in speech and casual messages but out of place in formal writing. It usually comes after a verb such as be or look, as in that party was off the hook. It shares the unexplained origin of the sports sense, and the two sit close together. One praises a performer, the other an experience.
- 5Performing extraordinarily well, as in a sport, game, or hobby.
The quarterback was off the hook tonight, throwing four touchdowns.
On the back nine, his putting was off the hook and the lead grew.
Similarunstoppable, brilliant, phenomenal
Note
Sports talk uses it for a player on a streak: five three-pointers in a row earns it. Its origin is unknown, so despite the spelling it has no tie to the fishing hook behind the "freed from duty" meaning. Context has to separate them. Smith is off the hook after a scoring run is praise, while after an acquittal it is relief.
Practice
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Origins
This phrase alludes to a fish that has escaped the hook of a fishing line.
This refers to the old candlestick telephone, which was hung up by placing the receiver on a hook. Leaving the receiver off the hook prevented the phone from receiving any calls.