Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. an anchor.

1827		J.F. Cooper Red Rover 44: He would drop a kedge [and fasten her to the spot with good hempen cables and iron mud-hooks .
1847		J. Downey Cruise of the Portsmouth (1963) 106: We at last down Mudhook, and held on to what we had got. We were at anchor it is true, but in port or near port we were not.
1873		W.H. Thomes Slaver’s Adventures 256: I can pick out a soft spot for the mud-hook and in fifteen minutes it will be down.
1899		A. Binstead Houndsditch Day by Day 157: Ship yer mud-hook an’ put out to sea.
1899–1900		C.L. Cullen Tales of the Ex-Tanks 372: When she finally dropped her mudhook [...] I didn’t have any more than 200 or so dents on me.
1905		O. Bates A Madcap Cruise 44: We’ll make sail when we get out the mudhook.
1915		D.W. Bone Broken Stowage 117: ‘There goes her mudhook!’ We watched her great anchor go hurtling from the bows and heard the roar of chain cable.
1924		(con. WWI) A.G. Pretty Gloss. Sl. [...] in the A.I.F. 1921–1924 (rev. t/s) n.p.: mud-hook. An anchor, the anchor in the game of ‘Crown & Anchor’.
1929		(con. 1916) F. Manning Her Privates We (1986) 45: ’Oo’s goin’ to ’ave somethin’ on the old mud-’ook? Come on, my lucky lads.
1936		(con. 1900s) F. Richards Old Soldier Sahib (1965) 66: These are the figures [in Crown and Anchor] with their nicknames [...] Anchor – Mud-hook.
1944		P. Kendall Dict. Service Sl. n.p.: the mud hook . . . the anchor.
1984		M. Sandoz Tom Walker 91: He was galled too, when he got there, his pipe leg dragging like a mudhook.
2006		J. Bolton Mother’s Revenge 255: ‘Over here by the mudhook.’ John [...] stood in the center of the living-dining room beside a huge, rusty ship’s anchor.

2. (also mud-hopper, -masher, -splasher, -splitter, -squasher) a foot, a heavy shoe or boot.

1850		L.W. Garrard Wah-to-yah and the Taos Trail 276: ‘This ‘mudhook’,’ holding out his foot, ‘hasn’t a moccasin on for nuthin.’.
1875		Girard Press (KS) 10 June 3/5: Two miles across the moor [...] bu in vain he plied ponderous ‘mud-hooks’.
1884		Century Mag. (N.Y.) Dec. 283: The [soldier] boys called their feet ‘pontons,’ ‘mud-hooks,’ ‘soil-excavators,’ and other names not quite so polite [DA].
1915		M.G. Hayden ‘Terms Of Disparagement’ in DN IV:iii 209: mud-hooks, feet. ‘Get your big mud-hooks out of the way!’.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 47: Mudhook, a foot.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

3. a finger or hand.

1889		News-Courant (Cottonwood Falls, KS) 12 Sept. 2/1: ‘Keep y’or mudhooks off’n me, or I’ll drap yo, shore’s God made little apples’’.
1903		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 7 Jan. 7/5: [He is] not a ‘rail’ hand, being much more at home with the ‘pick handle’ in his ‘mud hook’ .
1934		Central Qld Herald (Rockhampton) 6 Sept. 12/2: Mauley, mitt, dook, mudhook for hand.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl. 47: Mudhook, [...] (2) A hand.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 138: mudhook A hand, maybe of the randy variety, c1915.