off the hook
In slang, “off the hook” means amazing, wild or incredibly fun: “That party was off the hook!” It’s different from the everyday idiom, where getting off the hook means escaping blame.
Two meanings
Everyday English first: to be let off the hook is to be freed from trouble or responsibility, like a fish that wriggles free. “The teacher let us off the hook for the late homework.”
The slang meaning is all praise. Something off the hook is fresh, cool, excellent, over the top in a good way: a concert, a party, a performance, a player on a hot streak.
Examples
- “That concert was off the hook!”
- “Ten points in two minutes? She’s off the hook tonight.”
- “Thanks for covering my shift. You totally got me off the hook.”
Where it came from
The original idiom dates to the mid-1800s and comes from fishing, according to Dictionary.com. The slang sense of “excellent” came much later; Wiktionary lists it as informal slang, alongside cousins like “off the chain.” Some people connect it to a phone so busy it’s ringing off the hook, but there’s no clear evidence either way.
Related terms
More throwback words are in our 90s slang guide.
Example sentence
The party last night was off the hook.
Similar words
amazing, wild, off the chain
Notes
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