on one’s own hook —(sl.) on one’s own initiative; relying on one’s own efforts:
- St. Mary’s Hospital does not meet incoming flights with its own vehicle. Patients come on their own hook.
on the hook—
1. (of a telephone receiver) on its rest:
- Unless the telephone is on the hook, the subscriber cannot call or be called by the Exchange.
2. (coll.) attached to some habit; addicted to smth.:
- “He really is on the hook.” “The hook?” “This drug habit.”
3. (coll.) in smb.’s power:
- She had made me wretchedly conscious of my shortcomings; that is how she had me on the hook.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase on tenterhooks—in a state of suspense or strain because of uncertainty:
- Dealers said the market was on tenterhooks about the size of the German rate cut.
See also: off the hook / off the hooks.