Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913
Rook
Rook (ro͝ok), n. Mist; fog. See Roke. [Obs.]
Rook, v. i. To squat; to ruck. [Obs.] Shak.
Rook, 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.
Rook, n. [AS. hrōc; akin to OHG. hruoh, ruoh, ruoho, Icel. hrōkr, Sw. roka, Dan. raage; cf. Goth. hrukjan to crow.] 1. (Zoöl.) 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.
The rook . . . should be treated as the farmer's friend. Pennant.
2. A trickish, rapacious fellow; a cheat; a sharper. Wycherley.
Rook, v. t. & i. [imp. & p. p. Rooked; p. pr. & vb. n. Rooking.] To cheat; to defraud by cheating. "A band of rooking officials." Milton.