sky hook

skyhook

1. A long cable that is attached on one end to a person or object and on the other end to a large balloon that floats high into the sky. The cable is subsequently "caught" by a slow-moving low-altitude aircraft overhead, which lifts the person or object into the air. Used especially in reference to military or spy agencies, who used such devices to extract people or things out of dangerous territories. The spy was trapped behind enemy lines, so the Agency decided to use a skyhook to get him out safely.
2. Any hook or harness attached to a cable that is suspended from a helicopter or airplane and used to transport people or objects through the air. They had to use a skyhook to lift the sedated elephant out of its enclosure in the zoo. Rescue services are going to airlift the injured man the nearest hospital, so we'll have to prep his spinal board for the skyhook.
3. In skydiving, a particular type of mechanism that is used to deploy one's reserve parachute in case of a malfunctioning main parachute. He was so focused on getting his parachute to open correctly that he didn't have enough time to open the reserve with his skyhook.
4. In rock climbing, a small metal hook attached to a strap used to help a climber secure a hold on small or slippery grips or to allow them to rest mid-climb. Thank God I had that skyhook with me! My arms got so tired near the top that I don't know how I would have made it if I didn't have the chance to give them a break. I always bring a skyhook with me in case it starts to rain during my climb.
5. In basketball, a specialized hook shot that is typically shot from a greater distance from the basket. With his great height and precise aim, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was able to turn the skyhook into one of his most effective shots once he got inside the three-point arc.
6. A figurative hook suspended from a nonexistent crane, as needed to lift or hoist someone or something in an impossible manner or location. If I eat any more of this pizza, they'll need a skyhook to get me out of this place!
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

sky hook

n. an imaginary crane; an imaginary tool. I can’t get this thing outa here without a sky hook.
See also: hook, sky
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • skyhook
  • anticipointment
  • get the short end
  • cash up
  • (one's) race is run
  • draw to a close
  • end to end
  • culminate
  • culminate in
  • culminate in (something)
References in periodicals archive
Where do we hang the sky hook when there's nothing in sight?
To be mechanically effective, sky hooks have to be anchored someplace.
A Place To Hang Your Sky Hook
My individual way of doing it, my own body language, had something to do with it being called the sky hook, and it becoming my signature shot.
The Kareem of the crop
You may regard the Sky Hook's overall oddness as a drawback or as a conversation starter.
The Sky Hook walks away with first place for lawn-chair viewing, with its ingenious flexibility and quality of engineering.
The BM-100 on the Porta-Pier looks like its natural habitat is the corner of a garage; the Vista, the Mini-Mount, and the Steadi/Scan could pal around with skates and umbrellas in the back of a closet, and the shiny chrome Sky Hook looks like something that escaped from a classy orthopedic hospital.
In search of a good binocular mount
Sky Hooks Look in the crannies, peer in the nooks, You'll never find any sky hooks.
Poets' corner
When younger, the first day in any new job was for me--usually filled with dread, with the usual requests to go the store and get a tin of tartan paint or a packet of sky hooks. Relevant to my first job was a load of photographic terms, as I was in photo/optical retail.
Crusty on Brexit: what is it and how do you avoid it?
Or they were sent for sky hooks, a tin of striped paint, a can of elbow grease, a bucket of steam, a glass hammer, a box of sparks, a left handed screwdriver, skirting board ladders, rubber nails, a bubble for a spirit level or a reversible drill to fill holes back in.
Is anyone still sent for a bucket of steam?
No matter how strong your fingers were, this was a line that required cunning and artificial aid to scale: hundreds of edges no bigger than a finger nail to be grasped by tiny sky hooks of steel, and cracks so unfriendly they could only be grasped by soft copper nuts that had to be deformed by blows from my hammer in order to grip the mountain.
Once these two techniques have been practiced, it will be possible to progress to more difficult climbs and begin to use more sophisticated gear such as pegs and sky hooks. The only way to get better at this style of climbing is to practice, otherwise you'll be so slow on the wall that you'll run out of either time or water long before you're done.
Lost in space: essential gear: climbing 'big walls' requires skill, strength and stamina, not to mention a whole pile of kit. Andy Kirkpatrick offers advice on mounting these vertical expeditions
"It's very old," she said, "so old I don't think it has any foundations!" Wow, I thought, at long last a building that is supported by sky hooks.
My first chartered surveyor boss, when I started my training, was very familiar with "sky hooks".
Beware castles in the a
IN FACT, ONE COULD ARGUE THAT THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE INDUSTRY'S FUTURE SEEMS TO HANG SUSPENDED FROM THE FRAYING FABRIC OF AN ABSTRACT HEAVEN, ATTACHED ONLY BY INTELLECTUAL "SKY HOOKS."
Re-engineering the system
Here in Britain in my day wags would send the new boy for "A long stand", "Sky hooks" or "glass nails."
Tales of favourite first days at work