hound
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /haʊnd/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -aʊnd
Etymology 1
From Middle English hound, from Old English hund, from Proto-Germanic *hundaz (confer West Frisian hûn, Dutch hond, Luxembourgish Hond, German Hund, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian hund), from pre-Germanic *ḱuntós (compare Latvian sùnt-ene (“big dog”)), enlargement of Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (“dog”) (compare Welsh cwn (“dogs”), Tocharian AB ku, Lithuanian šuõ, Armenian շուն (šun)). Doublet of canine.

Noun
hound (plural hounds)
- A dog, particularly a breed with a good sense of smell developed for hunting other animals.
- Any canine animal.
- (by extension) Someone who seeks something.
- 1996, Marc Parent, Turning Stones, Harcourt Brace & Company, →ISBN, page 93,
- On the way out of the building I was asked for my autograph. If I'd known who the signature hound thought I was, I would've signed appropriately.
- 2004, Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 483,
- I still do not know if he's taken on this case because he's a glory hound, because he wants the PR, or if he simply wanted to help Anna.
- 1996, Marc Parent, Turning Stones, Harcourt Brace & Company, →ISBN, page 93,
- (by extension) A male who constantly seeks the company of desirable women.
- 1915, Norman Duncan, "A Certain Recipient", in Harper's, volume 122, number 787, December 1915, republished in Harper's Monthly Magazine, volume 122, December 1915 to May 1916, page 108,
- "Are you alone, Goodson? […] I thought, perhaps, that the […] young woman, Goodson, who supplanted Mary?" […]
- "She had a good many successors, John."
- "You are such a hound, in that respect, Goodson," said Claywell, "and you have always been such a hound, that it astounds me to find you—unaccompanied."
- 1915, Norman Duncan, "A Certain Recipient", in Harper's, volume 122, number 787, December 1915, republished in Harper's Monthly Magazine, volume 122, December 1915 to May 1916, page 108,
- A despicable person.
- Shakespeare
- Boy! false hound!
- Elizabeth Walter, Come and Get Me
- 'You blackmailing hound,' the parrot said distinctly, in what Hodges recognized as General Derby's voice. Anstruther turned pale.
- Shakespeare
- A houndfish.
Usage notes
- In more recent times, hound has been replaced by Modern English dog but the sense remains the same.
Derived terms
- Afghan hound
- autograph hound
- basset hound
- Bavarian mountain hound
- bearhound
- bitch hound
- bloodhound
- boarhound
- bookhound
- boozehound
- buckhound
- Bulgarian Hound
- chowhound
- clean as a hound's tooth
- coonhound
- corpse hounds
- covert hound
- deerhound
- draghound
- follow the hounds
- foxhound
- Gabriel's hounds
- gazehound
- gorehound
- greyhound, grayhound
- hare and hounds
- harehound
- hell hound
- hold with the hare and run with the hounds
- hound dog
- houndfish
- houndish
- houndlike
- houndling
- houndly
- houndsberry
- hound shark
- houndsman
- hounds of war
- hound's tongue
- houndstooth
- houndy
- Hungarian hound
- Ibizan Hound
- lenshound
- Lithuanian Hound
- lyam-hound
- minkhound
- newshound
- nursehound
- Otterhound
- pack hound
- powder hound
- publicity hound
- rock hound
- run with the hare and hunt with the hounds
- scent hound
- shag-hound
- sighthound
- sinhound
- sleuth-hound, sleuthhound
- slot-hound
- smooth hound
- smuthound
- staghound
- Tyrolean Hound
- war hound
- whorehound
- wolfhound
Translations
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Etymology 2
From Middle English hounden, from the noun (see above).
Verb
hound (third-person singular simple present hounds, present participle hounding, simple past and past participle hounded)
- (transitive) To persistently harass.
- He hounded me for weeks, but I was simply unable to pay back his loan.
- (transitive) To urge on against; to set (dogs) upon in hunting.
- 1897, Andrew Lang, The Book of Dreams and Ghosts (page 162)
- We both thought we saw what had the appearance to be a fox, and hounded the dogs at it, but they would not pursue it.
- 1897, Andrew Lang, The Book of Dreams and Ghosts (page 162)
Translations
Etymology 3
From Middle English hownde, hount, houn, probably from Old Norse húnn, from Proto-Germanic *hūnaz.
Noun
hound (plural hounds)
- (nautical, in the plural) Projections at the masthead, serving as a support for the trestletrees and top to rest on.
- A side bar used to strengthen portions of the running gear of a vehicle.
Middle English
Etymology
From Old English hund, from Proto-Germanic *hundaz.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /huːnd/, /hund/
Noun
hound (plural houndes or hounden)
- dog, hound (The canid Canis lupus familiaris)
- A pet dog; a dog kept for companionship.
- A hunting or sporting dog; a hound.
- Specifically a male or fully-grown dog.
- A strong term of abuse, especially used against enemies of one's religion
- (rare) A heraldic portrayal of a dog.
- (rare) The forces of evil; the infernal army.
- (rare) Sirius (star)
Usage notes
The general word for "dog" is hound; dogge is vaguely derogatory and has a sense of "mongrel" or "cur".
Derived terms
References
- “hǒund (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-11.