Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to cheat.

1841		in DARE.
1925		in Sat Eve. Post 3 Jan. 142: Are you guys crooking me?
1930		M. Fiaschetti You Gotta Be Rough 247: Both sides in this romance were crooking the cards, as is often the case in affairs of the heart.
1936		M. Harrison All the Trees were Green 144: Did ye think that my boy was going to crook ye?
1950		‘Hal Ellson’ Tomboy (1952) 50: We wouldn’t crook you.
1958		Kerouac letter 28 Aug. in Charters II (1999) 147: They are really crooking me in H’wood.
1968		(con. c.1900) J. Thompson King Blood (1989) 116: So he crooks someone for money.
1968		J. Alard He who Shoots Last 4: You crooked on him.
2006		Observer Mag. 15 Jan. 12/2: Most people you meet in life are coming along to crook you.

2. to steal.

1882		C.B. Lewis Lime-Kiln Club 216: But for a jury of six good men he would once have gone to jail on the charge of ‘crooking’ six hens [DAE].
1925		Black Mask Aug. III 59: Where’s the diamonds you crooked from me at the hotel in Shola?
1932		L.W. Merryweather ‘Argot of an Orphans’ Home’ in AS VII:6 401: He got sent to the farm for crooking.
1960, 1975		(ref. to 1945) Wentworth & Flexner DAS.

3. to truant from school.

1949

N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 216: I crooked four days a week from school.