▪ I. hoof, n.
(huːf)
Pl. hoofs, sometimes hooves. Forms: 1 hóf, 4 houf, 4–6 north. hufe, (5 huyfe); 5–7 hoofe, (5 howue), 6– hoof, (6 hofe, houfe, houe, 7 hoove, hooff, huff(e).
[Com. Teut.: OE. hóf = OFris., OS. hôf (MLG., LG. hôf, MDu., Du. hoef), OHG., MHG. huof (Ger. huf), ON. hófr (Sw. hof, Da. hov), Goth. not recorded:—OTeut. type *hôfo-z:—pre-Teut. *kō-pos.]
1. a. The massive horny growth which sheathes the ends of the digits or incases the foot of quadrupeds forming the order Ungulata, primarily that of the horse and other equine animals: it corresponds to the nails or claws of other quadrupeds.
false hoof or spurious hoof: see quot. 1854. on the hoof, alive; also transf. and fig. cloven hoof: see cloven 1 c.
| c 1000 Rune Poem xix. (Gr.), Hors hofum wlanc. a 1100 Ags. Voc. Ibid. 307 in Wr.-Wülcker Ungula, hof, oððe clawu. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 4179 Þe nedder..sal byte þe hors by þe hufe harde. 1382 Wyclif 2 Kings ix. 33 The hors houes [1388 howues] that treden hyre. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. xii. (MS. Bodl.), Hooues and clees of beestes. 1531 Elyot Gov. i. xvii, Discrepant in figure from other horsis, hauing his fore hoeues like to the feete of a man. 1535 Coverdale Lev. xi. 3 What so euer hath hoffe [Wyclif clee] and deuydeth it in to two clawes. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 16 Theyr fete..hauing fyue toes like hoeues vndeuided. 1570 Levins Manip. 157/20 Y⊇ Hoof of a foote, vngula. 1621 Quarles Argalus & P. (1678) 64 His proud Steed removes The hopeful fallows with his horned hoves. 1635 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banish'd Virg. 20 A short pasterne with a hard, high, concavous, and round huffe. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 372 The hooves, and horns of Cattle. 1747 Gentl. Mag. 208 He [the rhinoceros] has three hoofs on each foot forwards. 1818 H. B. Fearon Sk. Amer. 220 Cattle..are sold in this State, on the hoof, for about 3 dollars per hundred weight. 1832 Tennyson Dream Fair Women 21 Clattering flints batter'd with clanging hoofs. 1854 Owen Skel. & Teeth in Circ. Sc., Organ. Nat. II. 244 In the horse the rudiments of the two stunted toes were their upper ends or metatarsal bones; in the ox they consist of their lower ends or phalanges; these form the ‘spurious hoofs’, and are parts of the second..and fifth..toes. 1881 Stevenson Virg. Puerisque (1895) 265 The hooves of many horses, beating the wide pastures in alarm. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXV. 186/1 The estimated dead weight of the sheep imported on the hoof for slaughter. a 1936 Kipling Something of Myself (1937) iii. 71 Why buy Bret Harte, I asked, when I was prepared to supply home-grown fiction on the hoof? 1957 Wodehouse Over Seventy iv. 53 An august figure, weighing seventeen stone or so on the hoof. 1971 Farmer's Weekly 19 Mar. 67/3 You can't grade hoggets on the hoof. |
b. In allusion to the cloven hoof attributed to the Devil:
cf. cloven 1 c; also, to the hoof of ‘the Beast’,
i.e. Antichrist.
| 1638 A. Cant Serm. in Kerr Coven. & Covenanters (1895) 77 In their [the English] reformation something of the beast was reserved: in ours not so much as a hoof. 1658 Wood Life 24 July (O.H.S.) I. 257 Wilson..did, after his humoursome way, stoop downe to Baltzar's feet, to see whether he had a huff on, that is to say, to see, whether he was a devil, or not, because he acted beyond the parts of man. 1788 T. Jefferson Wks. (1859) II. 485 Here the cloven hoof begins to appear. 1863 Mrs. C. Clarke Shaks. Char. vii. 171 He has nowhere given to virtue the hoof of a fiend. 1885 J. Payn Luck of Darrells xxxi, [It] had caused him to show the cloven hoof too soon. |
2. a. transf. Hard or callous skin on the hands (
cf. horny-handed).
dial. b. fig. A callous sheath or covering, as insensible as a hoof.
| 1647 Trapp Comm. Matt. xx. 7 Such an hoof they have over their hearts, that scarce any thing will affect them. Ibid., Acts xxviii. 27 It is a heavy case when men have got a kind of hoof over their hearts. 1888 Sheffield Gloss., Hoof or Hoove, hard skin on the hands made by working. |
3. a. In certain phrases, put for a hoofed animal, as the smallest unit of a herd or drove.
| 1535 Coverdale Exod. x. 26 There shal not one hooffe be left behynde. a 1592 Greene George a Greene Wks. (Rtldg.) 254 Sirrah, you get no victuals here, Not if a hoof of beef would save your lives. a 1799 Washington (Webster 1828), He had not a single hoof of any kind to slaughter. 1851 Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. xxxii, We should lose every hoof of them [the buffaloes]. 1859 Tennyson Enid 1334 ‘Horse and man’, he said, ‘All of one mind,..Not a hoof left’. |
† b. fig. A fragment or particle.
Obs.| 1655 Fuller Ch. Hist. i. i. §10 Yet we will not willingly leave an hoofe of the British Honour behind. |
4. a. Applied humorously or derogatively to the human foot:
esp. in phrases
to plod away on (obs.), beat, pad, be upon the hoof; to go on foot, to be on the move.
to see a person's hoof in anything, to trace or detect his influence or interference in a matter.
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. i. iii. 92 Goe, Trudge; plod away ith' hoofe: seeke shelter, packe. c 1645 Howell Lett. i. i. xvii. (1655) I. 25 A mischance befell the horse..insomuch that the Secretary was put to beat the hoof himself, and Foot it home. a 1687 Cotton Epistles vi. Poems (Chalmers) 736 (Farmer) Being then on foot away I go And bang the hoof incognito. 1687 T. Brown Saints in Uproar Wks. 1730 I. 78 We beat the hoof as pilgrims. 1713 Darrell Gentlem. Instr. (ed. 5) ii. vii. 167 A Man that is thus upon the Hoof can scarce find leasure for Diversion. 1750 Warburton Doctr. Grace xii. Wks. 1811 VIII. 399 The good man was..forced to beat it on the hoof as far as Hernhuth in Germany. 1794 J. Wolcott (P. Pindar) Poor Sold. Tilbury Wks. 1812 III. 241 Thus Poverty and Merit beat the hoof. 1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge (1859) 300 Contriving..to tread heavily on my toes with his own hoofs. 1838 Dickens O. Twist ix, Charley Bates expressed his opinion that it was time to pad the hoof. 1860 Thackeray Round. Papers, Screens Dining-Rooms (1863) 87, I once said to a literary gentleman,..‘Ah! I thought I recognized your hoof in it’. |
b. under the hoof: trampled, downtrodden, under the oppression
of.
| 1841 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) VI. 25 He taunted the unfortunate Canadians while they were under the hoof. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxxv. 312 ‘I'd rather ten thousand times’, said the woman, ‘live in the dirtiest hole at the quarters than be under your hoof!’ ‘But you are under my hoof, for all that’, said he. |
5. attrib. and
Comb. a. Simple
attrib., as
hoof-beat,
hoof-clang,
hoof-fall,
hoof-hold,
hoof-mark,
hoof-print,
hoof-stroke,
hoof-track,
hoof-tramp,
hoof-tread;
b. locative, as
hoof-brittle,
hoof-cast,
hoof-loosened adjs.; instrumental, as
hoof-pitted,
hoof-plod,
hoof-ploughed,
hoof-printed adjs.; similative, as
hoof-button;
hoof-footed,
hoof-shaped adjs.; also
hoof-like adj.| 1847 Longfellow Ev. ii. ii. 43 The *hoof-beats of fate. 1881 Century Mag. XXIII. 937/1 The hoofbeats came nearer..over the sandy road. |
| 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v., The Horse will at last grow to be Hoof bound, which dis⁓temper in the Hoofs as well as *Hoof brittle, *Hoof cast, malt Hug, &c., you may consult under their respective heads. |
| 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4179/4 A great Coat..with black *Hoof Buttons. |
| 1808 Scott Marm. ii. Introd. 50 *Hoof-clang, hound, and hunters' cry. |
| 1910 J. Farnol Broad Highway ii. xlvii, Nodding sleepily with every plodding *hoof-fall. |
| 1923 H. Sutcliffe Wrack o' Doom ii, The broken lands that gave no *hoof-hold. |
| 1802 Bingley Anim. Biog. (1813) I. 119 note, Their feet are armed with strong, blunt, and *hoof-like nails. |
| 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., *Hoof-loosened, is a dissolution or dividing of the horn or coffin of a horse's hoof from the flesh, at the setting on of the coronet. |
| 1812 Byron Ch. Har. i. xlix, Wide scatter'd *hoof-marks dint the wounded ground. |
| 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 204 Narrow *hoof-plod lanes. |
| 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xv. 243 In sacred Tempe..about the *hoofe-plow'd Spring. |
| 1804 J. Grahame Sabbath 636 *Hoof-prints fill'd with gore. |
| 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxix, Avoid the soft ground, my lad; leave no *hoof-track behind you. |
c. Special comb.:
hoof-and-mouth disease = foot-and-mouth disease;
hoof and tongue sickness = foot-and-mouth disease (
s.v. foot n. 35);
hoof-binding = hoof-bound n.;
hoof-cushion = hoof-pad;
hoof-footed a., having hoofs on the feet;
hoof-pad, a pad or cushion to prevent a horse's foot or shoe from striking or cutting the fellow foot;
hoof-paring knife, a farrier's knife with a recurved blade, for paring the hoofs of horses;
hoof-pick, a hooked instrument for picking stones out of a horse's hoof;
hoof-rot = foot-rot (
s.v. foot n. 35);
hoof-spreader (see
quot.);
hoof stick, an instrument for manicuring the nails.
| 1887 Lowell Democr. 11 Would it account for the phylloxera, and *hoof and-mouth disease, and bad harvests..and the German bands? |
| 1867 Queenstown Free Press 22 Jan. (Pettman), We have had a great deal of *hoof and tongue sickness amongst our cattle. |
| 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Horse-shoe, Panton, or Pantable shoe, which opens the heels, and helps *hoof-binding. |
| 1721 Bradley Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat. 88 The general Heads..are, the Tallon-footed, the Claw-footed, the *Hoof-footed, and the double Hoof or Cloven-footed. |
| 1890 19th Cent. Nov. 845 His comrades will borrow the tools of daily use, such as brushes, *hoof-picks, dusters. |
| 1863 H. S. Randall Pract. Shepherd ii. 25 Scab and *hoof-rot, those dire scourges of the ovine race. 1893 W. B. E. Miller et al. Dis. Live Stock v. 355 (heading) Hoof rot—foot rot. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Hoof-spreader, a device for expanding mechanically the hoof of a horse suffering from contraction of the foot. |
| 1960 Woman 30 Jan. 15/2 First she lifts her cuticles gently with a *hoof stick. 1970 Observer 8 Feb. 36/7 Keep the cuticle free from the nail with a rubber hoof stick. |
Hence
ˈhoofish a., resembling that of a hoof, hoof-like;
ˈhoofless a., without a hoof or hoofs.
| 1728 Morgan Algiers I. iv. 99 After a Rain..their [Camels'] soft hoofless Feet being extremely apt to slip. 1862 C. Crosland Mrs. Blake II. 245 Beneath the hard, brute heel Whose hoofish tread yet leaves you leal. 1897 Naturalist 206 The hoofless reindeer with a prodigality of horn. |
▪ II. hoof, v. (
huːf)
[f. hoof n.] 1. a. intr. (Also
to hoof it.) To go on foot; to foot it.
| 1641 [see hoofing, below]. 1685 Crowne Sir C. Nice ii. Dram. Wks. 1874 III. 283, I am growing a woman's ass..and I must hoof it away with her load of folly upon my back. 1728 Morgan Algiers I. iv. 98 Neither are their women and children (many of which hoof it over those Desarts..) very apt to lag behind. a 1852 Moore Case of Libel v, And so my gentleman [the devil] hoofed about. 1877 J. Habberton Jericho Road i. 7 If we get stuck way up the river, so's we have to lay up all summer, and you have to hoof it in deep water. 1888 ‘Buffalo Bill’ Story of Wild West 531, I finally concluded that my prospects were good for ‘hoofing’ the whole distance. 1910 W. M. Raine B. O'Connor iv. 58 He hoofed it back to the cabin. 1923 Belloc Sonnets & Verse 111 A score of stout fellows who..Hoofed it amain, Rain or no rain. 1958 S. Ellin Eighth Circle (1959) ii. xvii. 177 They hoofed it all the way down to Barrow Street. 1972 C. Weston Poor, Poor Ophelia (1973) xvii. 109 Man's not very sick if he's out hoofing around that early. |
b. To dance. (Also with
it.)
slang.| 1925 Amer. Speech I. 36/2 A ‘hoofing act’ is entirely made up of step dancing. 1926 C. Van Vechten Nigger Heaven 13 Le's hoof, Ruby urged. Le's sit down, Anatole commanded. 1928 Daily Express 2 July 11/5 Mr. Tommy Nolan proposed to his partner, Miss Anna King. She accepted him, and they planned their wedding and honeymoon while ‘hoofing’. 1958 ‘A. Gilbert’ Death against Clock iii. 27 A pretty nifty dancer himself in his young days and still able to hoof it quite neatly. 1972 I. Hamilton Thrill Machine xv. 64 She sings, she hoofs a little, she does some straight narration. |
2. a. trans. To strike with the hoof.
| 1864 Bushnell Christ & His Salvat. i. (1865) 15 All horning or hoofing each other, as hungry beasts in their stall. |
b. To dismiss, expel, eject. Usu. with
out.
| 1893 Farmer & Henley Slang III. 340/2 To hoof out. 1905 Daily Chron. 22 Apr. 9/2 Well, at least we know for certain..that he was hoofed out of the Guards. 1915 V. Woolf Voyage Out xxiii. 376 They've hoofed out the prostitute. 1924 Galsworthy White Monkey iii. viii, A packer we had, who got hoofed for snooping books. 1928 D. L. Sayers Unpleasantness at Bellona Club i. 8 They'd hoof me out of the Club if I raised my voice beyond a whisper. 1959 Punch 6 May 600/2 They hoofed the London Museum out of Lancaster House. 1973 ‘B. Mather’ Snowline v. 60 The Bengali doctor came in at that stage and hoofed Mukkerjee out of it. |
3. colloq. South. U.S. ‘To kill (game) by shooting it on the ground’ (
Cent. Dict.).
Hence
ˈhoofer slang (
orig. U.S.), a dancer;
ˈhoofing vbl. n., going on foot; provision of hoofs.
| 1641 Brome Joviall Crew iii. Wks. 1873 III. 395, I am sorely surbated with the hoofing already. 1654 Whitlock Zootomia 479 As much as Riding differs from Hoofing. 1872 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lxix. 31 The horning and hoofing are nothing to him, though to Jewish ritualists these were great points. 1923 N.Y. Times 9 Sept. vii. 2/1 Hoofer, a dancer, also a heel-beater. 1928 [see femme 1]. 1928 Sunday Express 8 Apr. 5/7 To-morrow Roy Lloyd, who was the hoofer in ‘Broadway’, takes up the part. 1936 ‘J. Tey’ Shilling for Candles vi. 59 The little Broadway hoofer was blossoming into the song-and-dance star. 1959 News Chron. 19 June 8/2 Holly..gets herself involved with a no-good hoofer in a low night club. 1969 Daily Tel. 17 Jan. 21/5 An orthodox tale of stage success: unknown girl hoofer becoming overnight hit by breaking all the Ziegfeld rules. 1973 Sunday Express 8 July 6/4 She was impressed by one of the male dancers... The one-time hoofer ended up by working for her for 40 years. |