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Webster 1913 Edition


Hound

Hound

,
Noun.
[OE.
hound
,
hund
, dog, AS.
hund
; akin to OS. & OFries.
hund
, D.
hond
, G.
hund
, OHG.
hunt
, Icel.
hundr
, Dan. & Sw.
hund
, Goth.
hunds
, and prob. to Lith.
sz[GREEK]
, Ir. & Gael.
cu
, L.
canis
, Gr. [GREEK], [GREEK], Skr.
çvan
. √229. Cf.
Canine
,
Cynic
,
Kennel
.]
1.
(Zool.)
A variety of the domestic dog, usually having large, drooping ears, esp. one which hunts game by scent, as the foxhound, bloodhound, deerhound, but also used for various breeds of fleet hunting dogs, as the greyhound, boarhound, etc.
Hounds
and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs.
Shakespeare
2.
A despicable person.
“Boy! false hound!”
Shak.
3.
(Zool.)
A houndfish.
4.
pl.
(Naut.)
Projections at the masthead, serving as a support for the trestletrees and top to rest on.
5.
A side bar used to strengthen portions of the running gear of a vehicle.
To follow the hounds
,
to hunt with hounds.

Hound

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Hounded
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Hounding
.]
1.
To set on the chase; to incite to pursuit;
as, to
hound
a dog at a hare; to
hound
on pursuers.
Abp. Bramhall.
2.
To hunt or chase with hounds, or as with hounds.
L’Estrange.

Webster 1828 Edition


Hound

HOUND

,
Noun.
[L. canis.] A generic name of the dog; but in English it is confined to a particular breed or variety, used in the chase. It has long, smooth, pendulous ears.

HOUND

,
Verb.
T.
To set on the chase.
1.
To hunt; to chase.

Definition 2024


hound

hound

English

Noun

hound (plural hounds)

  1. A dog, particularly a breed with a good sense of smell developed for hunting other animals. (hunt hound, hunting hound, hunting dog, hunter)
  2. (by extension) Someone who seeks something.
    • 1996, Marc Parent, Turning Stones, Harcourt Brace & Company, ISBN 0151002045, 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 0743486196, 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.
  3. (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."
  4. 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.
  5. A houndfish.
  6. (nautical, in the plural) Projections at the masthead, serving as a support for the trestletrees and top to rest on.
  7. A side bar used to strengthen portions of the running gear of a vehicle.

Usage notes

  • In more recent times, hound has been replaced by dog but the sense remains the same.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

hound (third-person singular simple present hounds, present participle hounding, simple past and past participle hounded)

  1. (transitive) To persistently harass.
    He hounded me for weeks, but I was simply unable to pay back his loan.

Translations

Anagrams