Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. out of order, malfunctioning; cite 1833 suggests drunk.

1833		Satirist (London) 21 Apr. 551/2: And, viewing the odds, I do think you will find / That Jersey was ‘hookey,’ and Allen was ‘blind’.
1849		‘Epistle from Joe Muggins’s Dog’ in Era (London) 9 Sept. 4/1: The Danebury pot, as was to have been biled at Warwick, biled over sooner nor they spekted, and now its all hookey with thayr Chatterin nag.
1866		Sporting Gaz. (London) 27 Oct. 6/2: Instead of ‘all correct,’ of which O.K. is the slang equivalent, it turned out a decided case of ‘hookey’ so far as the fielders were concerned.

2. illegal.

1884		Sporting Times 18 Oct. 2/4: [of marked cards] A fan with pictures emblematic of the three-card trick, a flash fiver, and some hookey broads.
c.1940–5		in ‘Myles na gCopaleen’ Best of Myles (1968) 48: Your man was up to some hooky work in his time too.
1982		J. Sullivan ‘Diamonds are for Heather’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Del’s gone and lumbered himself with two ton of hooky Persil! [Ibid.] ‘The Long Legs of the Law’ [TV script] Did we get this sideboard down Hooky Street, then?
1988		A. Payne ‘The Last Video Show’ Minder [TV script] 9: It’s not hookey gear.
1992		in R. Graef Living Dangerously 65: He buys the odd hooky thing now and then.
1996		K. Lette Mad Cows 19: You were found with some hookey gear.
2001		N. Barlay Hooky Gear 160: The officer in question is certainly not hooky, go Warren like I insult him. Well what would you call him? I would call him absolutely and very enthusiastically corrupt.
2004		N. ‘Razor’ Smith A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 211: If you wanted anything, from a case of hooky vodka to a second-hand AK47, Belfast Joe was the man to see.