<P> "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 is very old, first recorded in the Middle English Controversial Tracts of John Wyclif in 1380 . </P> <P> The origin of the phrase is obscure, with multiple different explanations and no evidence to support any particular one over the others . For example, a commonly repeated suggestion is that it comes from Hook Head in Wexford, Ireland and the nearby village of Crooke, in Waterford, Ireland . Another is that it comes from the customs regulating which firewood local people could take from common land; they were allowed to take any branches that they could reach with a billhook or a shepherd's crook (used to hook sheep). </P>

What is the meaning of by hook or cook