yen-hok

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Chinese”).

Noun

yen-hok (plural yen-hoks)

  1. (historical) A hook-like tool used to pierce or stretch opium.
    • 1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Quit Foolin’ with That Comb”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 46:
      He would dip the point of the yen hok into a jar of dark-brown gooey stuff that looked like tar [opium], then hold a drop over the flame until it began to swell up like a tiny balloon, adding more to it now and then.
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