English

Verb

hook up ‎(third-person singular simple present hooks up, present participle hooking up, simple past and past participle hooked up)

1. (transitive) To assemble the parts of a mechanism, especially by connecting wires.
2. (transitive) To connect to something like a power supply or a signal source.
   • 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):

     An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic […] real kidneys […] . But they are nothing like as efficient, and can cause bleeding, clotting and infection—not to mention inconvenience for patients, who typically need to be hooked up to one three times a week for hours at a time.

3. (intransitive, slang, used with "with") To form an association (with) someone.
4. (intransitive, slang, used with "with") To have a casual sexual experience with another person, usually without any future relationship intended.
   • 2008, Nate Green, Built for Show, page 3

     You work out so you can increase your chances of hooking up. That means having the kind of physique that looks good in clothes and looks even better naked.

5. (idiomatic, slang) To supply someone with goods or services.

   That guy told me he didn't get his ticket, can you hook him up for me?

   Hey man, can you hook me up with some weed?

Usage notes

The sexual sense of hook up is subject to considerable variation between speakers, with some using it to refer exclusively to sexual intercourse and others using it to mean make out or to refer more broadly to sexual experiences in general.

Derived terms

• hook-ups

Translations