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In the Middle Ages villagers were granted the right to gather firewood from their landlord's woods on the understanding that they only cut timber from trees which could be reached by a shepherd's crook and cut down with a bill-hook. That original meaning has been replaced by a sense of absolute necessity that one way or another a task will be accomplished or an objective reached. It is interesting to note that whereas the original meaning implied that this was a lawful activity, "by hook or by crook" today implies that almost any means, right or wrong, will be employed to do what is necessary. This is from the book " Lock, Stock & Barrel familiar Sayings and Their Meanings.

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15y ago

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