pothook n : an S-shaped hook to suspend a pot over a fire

English

Noun

1. An S-shaped iron hook used to suspend a cooking pot over a fire
2. A crooked stroke in writing; a scrawl

Pothooks are S-shaped metal hooks for suspending a pot over a fire. While one extremity is hooked to the handle of the pot, the other is caught upon an iron crane moving on a pivot over the fire. Modern stoves have obviated the necessity for this arrangement, but it is still to be seen in great numbers of country cottages and farmhouse kitchens all over England, and in small artisan's houses in the west midlands and the north. In the elementary teaching of writing the pothook is a script of similar shape.