n. [ AS. hrōc; akin to OHG. hruoh, ruoh, ruoho, Icel. hrōkr, Sw. roka, Dan. raage; cf. Goth. hrukjan to crow. ] 1. (Zool.) A European bird (Corvus frugilegus) resembling the crow, but smaller. It is black, with purple and violet reflections. The base of the beak and the region around it are covered with a rough, scabrous skin, which in old birds is whitish. It is gregarious in its habits. The name is also applied to related Asiatic species. [ 1913 Webster ]

The rook . . . should be treated as the farmer's friend. Pennant. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A trickish, rapacious fellow; a cheat; a sharper. Wycherley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Mist; fog. See Roke. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To squat; to ruck. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. roc (cf. Sp. roque), fr. Per. & Ar. rokh, or rukh, the rook or castle at chess, also the bird roc (in this sense perhaps a different word); cf. Hind. rath a war chariot, the castle at chess, Skr. ratha a car, a war car. Cf. Roll. ] (Chess) One of the four pieces placed on the corner squares of the board; a castle. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. & i. [ imp. & p. p. Rooked p. pr. & vb. n. Rooking. ] To cheat; to defraud by cheating. “A band of rooking officials.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Rookeries 1. The breeding place of a colony of rooks; also, the birds themselves. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A breeding place of other gregarious birds, as of herons, penguins, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The breeding ground of seals, esp. of the fur seals. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A dilapidated building with many rooms and occupants; a cluster of dilapidated or mean buildings. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A brothel. [ Low ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ See Roky. ] Misty; gloomy. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Light thickens, and the crow
Makes wing to the rooky wood. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Some make this Shakespearean word mean “abounding in rooks.” [ 1913 Webster ]