Dictionary

yen-hok en · NOUN

Etymology

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Meanings

1. (historical) A hook-like tool used to pierce or stretch opium.
   • 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. 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:

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