These steel points were often cruel-looking things, having many fishhook-like barbs set at different angles, so that if they once entered a man's body it would be impossible to extract them again.
"Wanderings Among South Sea Savages And in Borneo and the Philippines"
H. Wilfrid Walker
Why is it cruel to put an earthworm on a fishhook?
"Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Nature Study"
Ontario Ministry of Education
In the mean while, if I and his mother can but follow him incessantly, like fishhook-floats, and foot clogs, through to-morrow and next day, that no murderous accident lift aside the curtain from his birth-certificate,-all may yet be well.
"The Campaner Thal and Other Writings"
Jean Paul Friedrich Richter