Origin and history of nook

"a notch," specifically, in archery, "the notch on the horn of a bow," where the string is fastened, also "notch on the end of an arrow," which rests on the string, late 14c., nokke, a word of uncertain origin, probably from a Scandinavian source (such as Swedish nock "notch"), or a continental Germanic one such as Low German nokk, Middle Dutch nocke, Dutch nok "tip of a sail" or other similar words denoting projections or tips. Perhaps connected to nook.

also nooky, "sexual activity," slang, generally used by men, by 1928, perhaps from Dutch neuken "to copulate with," as well as other foreign words, but it is not impossible to connect it to nook (n.) on the notion of "an angle" or "a secluded spot."

Farmer & Henley in the 1890s list, among the slang words for "the monosyllable," naggie, niche, nick-in-the-notch, and on the French side le coin "nook." A psychological report by A.A. Brill in 1914 (New York Medical Journal, March 21) also suggests earlier sexual use: "[The patient attended a boys' school where the boys used to refer to the penis as 'nookie,' " which word, Brill writes, "was well known to all the boys."

The adjective nooky "full of nooks, nook-like" is recorded from 1813.