greyhound
(ˈgreɪhaʊnd)
Forms: 1 gr{iacu}ᵹhund, 3 greahund, 4–6 grehound(e, 5 grehunde, grayhownd, -hund, grahounde, grawhond, 5–6 grehownde, greihound, 6–7 gray(e)-, greahound(e, 5–6 greyhounde, 6– greyhound. Cf. greund, grewhound, grifhound.
[OE. gr{iacu}ᵹhund, *gr{iacu}eᵹhund (= ON. greyhund-r), f. *gr{iacu}eᵹ (= ON. gr{obar}y neut., bitch:—OTeut. type *graujo{supm}) + hund dog, hound.
The etymology of the first element is unknown; it has no connexion with grey a. or with grew a., Greek, nor with grey = badger (grey n.).]
1. a. A variety of dog used in the chase, characterized by its long slender body, and long legs, by the keenness of its sight, and by its great speed in running.
It is not certain that the earlier examples always relate to the kind of dog now known by the name.
| c 1000 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 276/3 Unfer [? read Umber], griᵹhund. a 1225 Ancr. R. 332 Tristre is þer me sit mid þe greahundes forte kepen þe hearde. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 11415 Somme gaf he hauberks, & somme grehoundes. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. II. 359 And þus þes prelatis suen apostlis as gre-houndis suen an hare. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. clxxxvi. 162 The forsayd dragon shold be ladde by an ylle grehounde. 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III, 54 b, The fearefull hare never fledde faster before the gredy greyhound. 1555 Eden Decades 134 They affyrme them to bee swifter then grehowndes. 1587 Harrison England iii. iv. in Holinshed I. 226 King Henry the fift..thought it a meere scofferie to pursue anie fallow deere with..greihounds. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 114 The Gray-hound or Grecian Dog. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 673 Grey-hounds..are onely for the coursing of all sorts of wilde beastes by maine swiftnesse of foot. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 804 The fearful Doe And flying Stag, amidst the Greyhounds go. 1781 W. Blane Ess. Hunting Pref. (1788) 18 Arrian..proves that, in the time of Xenophon, Greyhounds were not known in Greece. 1814 Scott Wav. lxiii, Two grim and half-starved deer greyhounds. 1862 Huxley Lect. Wrkg. Men 110 It is a physiological peculiarity that leads the Greyhound to chase its prey by Sight. |
| fig. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 27 The Nimrod fierce is death, His speedy gray-hounds are Lust, sickness, envy, care. |
b. Applied with distinguishing prefix to different varieties, as
Arabian greyhound,
Highland greyhound,
Irish greyhound,
Italian greyhound,
Persian greyhound,
Russian greyhound,
Scotch greyhound,
Turkish greyhound.
| 1743 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) I. 300, I really forget anything of an Italian greyhound for the Tesi. 1824 T. Bewick Hist. Quadrup. (ed. 8) 340 The Irish Greyhound (Canis Graius Hibernicus, Ray..) Is the largest of the Dog Kind. 1837 Penny Cycl. IX. 57/2 The expression of the countenance [is] that of a coarse ill-natured Persian Greyhound. 1838 W. Scrope Deerstalking xii. 260 The deerhound is known under the names of Irish wolfhound, Irish greyhound, Highland deerhound, and Scotch greyhound. 1848 Maunder Treas. Nat. Hist. 282/1 The Italian Greyhound is a small and very beautiful variety of the species. 1891 Ouida in N. Amer. Rev. Sept. 316 The Siberian and the Persian greyhounds are one and the same breed. |
c. harlequin greyhound = harlequin 2.
| 1750 Coventry Pompey Litt. i. v. (1785) 17/2 A harlequin greyhound, a spotted Dane. |
2. The figure of a greyhound, used as a badge.
| 1763 Churchill Duellist ii. 262 Each, on his breast Mark'd with a Grey-hound, stood confest. [Poet. Wks. 1844 II. 33 note, Carrington and his band of King's messengers; a silver greyhound, the emblem of dispatch, was then worn by these men as a distinctive badge of office when engaged in the execution of their duty.] |
3. transf. a. An ocean steamship specially built for great speed. More fully
ocean greyhound.
| 1887 Sci. American 1 Jan. 2/2 They [ships]..are so swift of foot, as to have already become formidable rivals to the English ‘greyhounds’. 1891 Engineer 9 Oct. 301 The greyhounds of the Atlantic. |
b. Naut. (See
quot.)
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Greyhound, a hammock with so little bedding as to be unfit for stowing in the nettings. |
4. attrib. and
Comb., as
greyhound-bitch,
greyhound-fan,
greyhound-kennel,
greyhound-owner,
greyhound make,
greyhound-race,
greyhound-racecourse,
greyhound-track;
greyhound-like adj.;
greyhound fox (see
quot. 1774);
greyhound racing, a sport in which a dummy hare propelled mechanically round a set track is pursued by greyhounds.
Cf. gracing vbl. n.2| 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) III. 217 His hound or *greyhound-bitch who eats her puppys. |
| 1946 R. Genders Mod. Greyhound Racing xiii. 134 One of the famous Wireless Rally/Erin Green litter so well known to *greyhound fans, he has been one of the finest sprinters this country has ever seen. |
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. III. 332 There are only three varieties of this animal in Great Britain... The *grey-hound fox is the largest, tallest, and boldest... The mastiff fox is less... The cur fox is the least and most common. 1814 Sporting Mag. XLIV. 87 The hounds..unkennelled a remarkably large greyhound fox. |
| 1946 R. Genders Mod. Greyhound Racing vi. 58 The breeder or keeper of *greyhound kennels. |
| 1821 Southey in Life (1849) I. 35, I..afterwards became the lean, lank, *greyhound-like creature that I have ever since continued. 1860 All Year Round No. 63. 298 The wolf..with a light greyhound-like form, which pursues deer. |
| 1771 P. Parsons Newmarket II. 87 What a thin slim figure it [a jockey] is!—very much of the *grey-hound make. |
| 1927 ‘Leveret’ Greyhound Racing iii. 12, I have been asked by several would-be *greyhound owners to find them dogs for track⁓racing purposes. |
| 1926 Manch. Guardian 19 July 5/6 (Advt.), *Greyhound races. Belle Vue racecourse, Manchester. |
| Ibid. 23 July 11/4 The *Greyhound Racecourse, Kirkmanshulme Lane, Gorton, applied for an occasional licence to sell intoxicating drink. 1933 E. C. Ash Bk. Greyhound (ed. 2) xii. 305 In the year 1876, two events took place,..one a swimming race between a man and a dog, which the dog won, and the other a Greyhound race after a mechanical hare. |
| 1926 Manch. Guardian 26 July 9/4 Something of a novelty has been added to Manchester's odd collection of diversions by the opening of the new *greyhound racing track. 1928 R. Knox Footsteps at Lock viii. 79 The conversation turned..on greyhound racing... One very old gentleman had to be convinced..that it was the hare, not the hounds, which worked by electricity. 1949 H. E. Clarke Mod. Greyhound ii. 16 In the early days of greyhound racing it was customary to bolster up the antipathy to the coursing animal by the argument that no dog from the coursing field had ever won a track classic. |
| 1935 J. Agate More First Nights (1937) 141 This category includes racecourses, *greyhound and dog tracks, [etc.]. 1946 R. Genders Mod. Greyhound Racing iii. 27 There has been little change in the construction of greyhound tracks since the first ones were opened. 1970 Encycl. Brit. VII. 555/1 All major tracks are members of the American Greyhound Track Operators association. |