What it means
Means you’re feeling sick, hungover, or just generally off, like your body’s thrown a wobbly. It also works for anything dodgy or not working properly, from a crook ankle to a crook TV remote. Handy little all-rounder that covers illness, injury, and busted gear without needing a dramatic medical speech.
Usage examples
"Can’t come in, boss, I’m crook as a dog and the ute’s crook too. Yeah nah, I’ll stay home and not spread it round."
"Came back from the surf at Bondi feeling proper crook, food poisoning from the dodgy fish and chips at the Cronulla joint last night, my flatmate took one look and called in sick for me at the office."
"The old Ford ute on the property near Dubbo has been crook for two weeks, the alternator is gone, the radiator leaks, and my dad is still driving it to feed the dogs every morning at six sharp."
Where it comes from
Crook for unwell goes back to old British dialect from the early nineteenth century, where the word stretched from bent to broken to off. The settlers carried it to Australia where it stuck around as everyday slang for sick, broken machinery and shady deals, sometimes all three at once when the ute lets you down.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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