▪ I. hound, n.1
(haʊnd)
Forms: 1–6 hund, (3–5 hond, 4–6 hunde, hounde, 5–7 hownd, -e; 5 howne, 6 hown, 7 huin), 3– hound.
[Com. Teut.: OE. hund = OFris. hund, hond, OS. hund (LG. hund, MDu. hont (d-), Du. hond), OHG. hunt (d-), (MHG. hunt, G. hund), ON. hundr (Sw., Da. hund), Goth. hunds:—OTeut. *hundo-z, generally held to be a derivative of base *hun-, pre-Teut. *kun-, in Gr. κύων, κυν-, Skr. {cced}wan-, {cced}un-, Lith. szů, szun-, OIr. cu dog; cf. also L. can-is.
For the d (dh) of Teut. hund, the suggestion has been made of association with the vb. hinþan to seize, as if the word were understood to mean ‘the seizer’.]
1. A dog, generally. (Now only arch. or poetic.)
to wake a sleeping hound: cf. dog n.1 17 k.
| c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. xv. 89 Dumbe hundas ne maᵹon beorcan. a 1225 Ancr. R. 60 Hund wule in.. hwar se he ivint hit open. Ibid. 324 Monie hundes..habbeð biset me. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 99/248 Houndes it scholden ete. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 715 (764) It is nought good a slepyng hound to wake, Ne yeue a wyght a cause to deuyne. 1382 Wyclif Luke xvi. 21 Houndis camen, and lickiden his bylis. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xiv. 64 Þai ete cattes and hundes, ratouns and myesse. 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 273, I hatit him like a hund. 1841 Longfellow Excelsior viii, A traveller, by the faithful hound, Half-buried in the snow was found. |
2. spec. A dog kept or used for the chase, usually one hunting by scent. Now
esp. applied to a foxhound; also to a harrier;
(the) hounds, a pack of foxhounds.
to ride to hounds,
to follow the hounds, to follow on horseback the hounds in the chase.
to hold with the hare and run with the hounds, etc.: see
hare.
| c 1200 Vices & Virtues 69 Hundes and hauekes, and alle ðo þing ðe ȝeu hier gladien mai. a 1300 Cursor M. 687 Þe hund ne harmed noght þe hare. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 233 He uncouplede his houndus. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 49 A kenel of houndes folowynge theyr game. 1576 Fleming tr. Caius' Dogs in Arb. Garner III. 264 Hound signifieth such a dog only as serveth to hunt. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. Induct. i. 61 Another tell him of his Hounds and Horse. c 1710 Lady M. W. Montagu Lett. to Mrs. Hewet (1887) I. 30 Their mornings are spent among hounds. 1724 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 244, I was as ravenous as a hound. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 30 ¶5 Another..follows his hounds over hedges and through rivers. 1848 Thackeray Bk. Snobs xvii, They all..ride to hounds. 1877 Encycl. Brit. VII. 330/1 The Dalmatian Dog is a remarkably handsome breed, apparently intermediate between hound and pointer. 1881 Black Sunrise xxi, He would like to have a good looking wife..to go riding to hounds with him. |
b. Preceded by defining word. See blood-, buck-, deer-, fox-, grey-, stag-hound, etc.
3. fig. and
transf. Often in phrases, as
the hound of hell, Cerberus;
Orion's hound, the constellation of the Greater Dog, the dog-star;
winged hound, an eagle;
Gabriel's hounds, see
Gabriel.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxv. §6 Þa sceolde cuman þære helle hund, þæs nama..wæs Ceruerus. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Oct. 30 His musicks might the hellish hound did tame. 1587 Mirr. Mag., Forrex v, Iarring like two hounds of hell. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. iii. 31 Scorching flames of fierce Orions hound. 1792 Cowper Let. to Hayley 29 July, I am hunted by spiritual hounds in the night-season. 1808 J. Barlow Columb. x. 378 War's hosted hounds shall havoc earth no more. 1821 Shelley Prometh. Unb. i. i. 34 Heaven's winged hound..tears up My heart. 1866 B. Taylor Poems, The Bath 49 Press on, ye hounds of life. 1871 H. King tr. Ovid's Met. iv. 534 The Hound of Hell..reared his triple head, and thrice at once Howled greeting. |
4. Transferred, in various senses, to persons.
a. Applied opprobriously or contemptuously to a man:
cf. dog n.1 3 a; a detested, mean, or despicable man; a low, greedy, or drunken fellow.
| c 1000 Judith x. (Thwaites) 23 Ðone hæþenan hund. c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 11/365 ‘Þou luþere hound’, þis oþur seide. c 1340 Cursor M. 16636 (Trin.) Þei spitten on his louely face þo houndes alle of helle. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2155 Þys ȝonder day at morymond, conquered for soþ was hee, With a þef, a cristene hond, þar many men dide hit see. c 1400 Sowdone Bab. 164 From this cursed hethen houne. 1607 Shakes. Cor. v. vi. 113 Boy, false Hound: If you haue writ your Annales true, 'tis there, That [etc.]. 1845 Browning Soul's Trag. i. 297 Miserable hound! This comes of temporising, as I said! |
b. Cambridge slang: see
quot. 1879.
c. U.S. One of an organized gang of ruffians in San Francisco, in 1849; also called ‘Regulators’.
| 1859 J. W. Palmer New & Old i. iii. 70 (Funk) Sam Roberts..mustered his ‘hounds’, parading them in..Mexican and Chinese costume. 1879 E. Walford in N. & Q. 5th Ser. XII. 88 In the Anecdotes of Bowyer..we are told that a Hound of King's College..is an undergraduate not on the foundation, nearly the same as a ‘sizar’. |
d. transf. A player who follows the ‘scent’ laid down by the ‘hare’ in the sport
hare and hounds or paper-chase.
Cf. hare 3 b.
| 1857 Hughes Tom Brown i. vii, The hounds clustered round Thorne, who explained shortly, ‘They're to have six minutes' law’. 1883 W. H. Rideing in Harper's Mag. July 178/2 A flushed little ‘hare’ bounds past us, distributing the paper ‘scent’ in his course, and followed a quarter of an hour afterward by the panting and baffled ‘hounds’. |
e. Used with a preceding substantive to designate a person who has a particular enthusiasm for, or interest in, the object or activity specified;
esp. in
news-hound (see
news n. pl. 6 c).
colloq. (
orig. U.S.).
| 1926 Amer. Speech II. 45 Comma hound, applied to teachers of English composition. 1928 L. North Parasites 270 Much was made by the Zimski publicity hounds of this one hundred-per-cent Americanism of the little [film] star. 1968 Word Study Dec. 2/2 The enthusiast is a bug or a hound, as in radio bug or hi-fi hound. Closely related to this use of hound is its use as ‘one who frequents’, as in tavern hound. 1973 Sat. Rev. Soc. (U.S.) May 65/3 A real fun guy,..a super-duper party hound. |
5. Short for houndfish. Also called
sea-hound.
rough hound and
smooth hound, Large and Small Spotted Dogfish;
nurse hound,
Scyllium stellaris;
white hound, the Penny or Miller's Dog,
Galeus canis.
| 1603 Owen Pembrokesh. (1891) 123 [In list of Fish] Roughe hounds, smothe houndes. 1674 Ray Collect. Words, Sea Fishes 98 Rough Hounds; Mustelus, an lævis primus Salviani? 1758 Descr. Thames 235 There is another Dog-Fish, called the smooth, or unprickly Hound. 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes (1841) II. 487, 493 and 512. 1861 Couch Brit. Fishes I. 11, 14, 45 and 47. |
6. In north-eastern Canada: the old squaw or long-tailed duck,
Clangula hyemalis.
| 1623 N. H. in Whitbourne Newfoundland 114 The Fowles and Birds..of the Sea are..Teale, Snipes, Penguyns, Murres, Hounds..and others. 1779 G. Cartwright Jrnl. 19 May (1792) II. 440 There were several hounds and gulls, with some pigeons and black-divers among them. 1861 L. De Boilieu Recoll. Labrador Life 160 The bird called the Hound—a graceful fowl, rather larger than a teal—is very abundant. 1959 W. L. McAtee Folk-Names Canad. Birds (ed. 2) 14 Old Squaw [is also called] hound (the Chorus of sound from a number of these birds suggests the baying of a pack of hounds). |
7. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple
attrib. (mostly in sense 2), as
hound collar,
hound-dog,
hound hunger,
hound list,
hound music,
hound-pup,
hound show; objective,
hound-keeping,
hound-poisoning; similative, etc.,
hound-hungry,
hound-like,
hound-shaped adjs.| 1483 Cath. Angl. 192/1 An *Hunde colar, copularius, collarium, millus. |
| 1649 Early Rec. Dedham, Mass. (1892) III. 162 That care can be taken that the young *hound doges be in time taught to hunt. 1911 R. D. Saunders Col. Todhunter ii. 24 I'm as hungry as a young hound-dog this very minute. 1949 Chicago Daily News 6 July 14/3 He's got about nine houn' dawgs. |
| 1825–80 Jamieson, *Hund⁓hunger, the ravenous appetite of a dog or hound. |
| Ibid., *Hund-hungry, ravenous as a dog. |
| 1791 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Loyal Odes viii. vi, Thus, *hound-like..A common-councilman..On every seasoned dish so hungry stuffs. |
| 1892 W. Blew Pref. to Vyner's Notit. Venat., The *hound lists of the more famous packs. |
| 1889 Daily News 19 Dec. 3/3 A ringing chorus of *hound music shook the air. |
| 1857 F. L. Olmsted Journey Texas (1861) 52 The child..five miles from a neighbor;..[with] *hound-pups and negroes for playmates. 1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds xxviii. 439 What he wouldn't steal, a hound pup wouldn't pull out of a tan-yard. 1932 Kipling Limits & Renewals 293 Though well-meaning as a hound-pup..her face and figure were against her. |
| 1889 Dogs iii. 15 The body *hound-shaped, but..much heavier than the foxhound. |
| 1898 Westm. Gaz. 8 July 4/1 Twenty-one packs were represented in the annual *hound show at Peterborough. |
b. Special comb.:
hound-bitch,
† -brach, a bitch-hound;
† hound-fennel,
finkle, a plant, ?
= dog-fennel;
hound-grass (see
quot.);
hound-meal, meal prepared as dog's food;
hound-shark,
U.S., a small species of shark,
Galeus canis, common on the Atlantic coast of North America;
† hound's head, applied opprobriously to a person;
† hound's-swain, a man in charge of hounds;
† hound's thorn, ? the dog-rose, or some species of bramble;
† hound-stone (see
quot.);
hound-work, the work done by the hounds in hunting. Also
hound-fish, etc.
| 1677 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. i. (ed. 2) 28 A Brach is a mannerly name for all *Hound-bitches. |
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. ix. 184/2 The Brache is the Bitch to all hunting dogs..they are so called, not Bitches, but a *Hound Brache. |
| a 1387 Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.) 19 Emeroc..*hounde fenel. |
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 192/1 *Hunde fenkylle, ferula. |
| 1565–73 Cooper Thesaurus, Canaria,..*houndgrasse wherwith dogs prouoke vomite. |
| 1892 Pall Mall G. 29 Nov. 6/3 The animals get exercise..and good food, dog biscuits and *hound meal alternated. |
| 1633 Ford Broken H. ii. i, I'll tear thy throat out, Son of a cat, ill-looking *hounds-head. |
| c 1420 Avow. Arth. v, The hunter and the *howundus⁓squayn, Hase ȝarket hom ȝare. |
| c 1420 Pallad. Husb. i. 793 Brembil seed and seed of *houndis thorn. |
| 1585 Lupton Thous. Notable Th. (1675) 28 An Herb called *Hound-stone..being so tyed to the neck of a Dog, that he cannot get it away; you shall see him turn about so long, that he will fall down. |
| 1928 Isis (Oxf.) 14 Nov., Some very pretty *houndwork now ensued. 1932 Morning Post 19 Nov. 14/4 (heading) Pytchley Houndwork. 1971 Country Life 7 Oct. 897/2 The fascination of good hound-work. |
▪ II. hound, n.2 (
haʊnd)
[app. a corruption of an earlier *houn, early ME. hūn, a. ON. h{uacu}nn ‘knob’, esp. ‘the knob at the top of the mast-head’. Cf. the synon. huin, hune from French. (The final -d is excrescent, as in horehound, sound, etc., assisted by assimilation to hound n.1, which conversely was sometimes made hown, houne.) Hound is less likely to be from the French
hune, since
ou represents a
ME. ū, not
ǖ.]
1. Naut. A projection or cheek, of which one or more are fayed to the sides of the masthead to serve as supports for the trestle-trees; see also
quot. 1627.
| [c 1205 Layamon 28978 Seil heo droȝen to hune.] 1495 Naval Acc. Hen. VII (1896) 190 Shevers of Brasse in the hownde of the foremaste. 1532 Invent. Gt. Barke 6 Oct. (MS. Cott. App. xxviii. lf. 1) Item, a nyew mayne mast of spruce with a nyew staye hounsyd and skarvyd with the same wood, whyche mast ys of length from the Hounse to the step 25 yards. 1627 Capt. Smith Seaman's Gram. iii. 16 At the top of the fore Mast and maine Mast are spliced cheeks, or thicke clamps of wood, thorow which are in each two holes called the Hounds, wherein the Tyes doe runne to hoise the yards, but the top Mast hath but one hole or hound, and one tye. 1749 Chalmers in Phil. Trans. XLVI. 367 The Head of the Mast above the Hounds was not splintered. 1840 R. H. Dana Bef. Mast xxxiii. 127 The ice..in the tops and round the hounds of the lower masts. |
2. a. One of the wooden bars, of which there are two or more, connecting the fore-carriage of a springless wagon, the limber of a field-gun, etc., with the splinter-bar or shaft; also occasionally applied to supports of the connexion of the perch with the hind-carriage.
U.S. and
local Eng.| 1847 Rep. U.S. Comm. Patents 1846 264 The placing on the rear ends of the extended hounds..the adjustable sway bar. 1854 Bartlett Pers. Narr. Explor. Texas II. xl. 456 Mr. Flotte's large carriage got mired; and in the struggle to extricate, the tongue and hounds were broken. 1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Hounds, the portions of a wagon, which projecting from the forward axle, form a support for the tongue or pole. The term is borrowed from nautical language. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. s.v., In wagons, the hounds of the fore-axle pass forward and on each side of the tongue, to which they are secured by the tongue-bolt. The hounds of the hind-axle unite and are fastened to the coupling-pole by the coupling-pin. 1875 Sussex Gloss., Hounds, the part of a wagon to which the fore-wheels and shafts are attached. 1886 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk. s.v. Wagon, In front the hounds support and connect the sharp-bar to which the shafts are hinged..the hounds..bear all the pull or draught. |
b. Comb. hound-plate, a bracing plate for the hounds of a carriage.
▪ III. hound, v. (
haʊnd)
[f. hound n.1] 1. trans. To hunt, chase, or pursue with hounds, or as a dog does. Also
absol.| 1528 Lyndesay Dreme 902 Geue the wolffis cumis..Thame [the flokis] to deuore, than ar thay put to flycht, Houndit, and slane be thare weill dantit doggis. 1617 Assheton Jrnl. (Chetham Soc.) 17, I hounded and killed a bitch-fox. a 1676 Guthry Mem. Affairs Scotl. (1748) 26 To direct them to hound fair, and encourage them to go on. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), To Hound a Stag (among Hunters), to cast the Dogs at him. 1842 Campbell Pilgrim Glencoe 65 'Twas Luath [a sheep-dog], hounding to their fold the flock. 1873 Forest & Stream 25 Sept. 101/2 Parties..hounded or killed by jack-light 15 or 18 deer. |
2. fig. and
transf. To pursue, chase, or track like a hound, or as if with a hound;
esp. to pursue harassingly, to drive as in the chase. Also with
out, to drive away.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. i. §4 It is..by following, and as it were, hounding nature in her wandrings, to bee able to leade her afterwardes to the same place againe. 1672 J. Worthington Pref. to Mede's Wks. 41 As God began to punish it [Sacrilege] very early, even in Paradise itself..so hath he continually pursued and hounded this Sin. c 1730 Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1760) II. xxiii. 233 They are hounded (as they phrase it) into the Bounds of an other chief. 1897 Farrar St. Paul I. 516 The watchword would have been given to hound the fugitives from place to place. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 628 Spain decayed when the Inquisition hounded the jews out. 1930 G. B. Shaw Apple Cart i. 41 If I attempt to fight them I shall be hounded out of public life. 1945 E. Waugh Brideshead Revisited ii. 50 He daren't show his great purple face anywhere. He is the last, historic, authentic case of someone being hounded out of society. |
3. To set (a hound, etc.)
at a quarry; to incite or urge
on to attack or chase anything.
| 1652 Earl of Monmouth tr. Bentivoglio's Hist. Relat. 53 Some⁓times she..will Hound her Hawk, and Govern the Chase. 1656 Bramhall in Hobbes Lib., Necess. & Chance 94 He who only lets loose a Greyhound out of the slip, is said to hound him at the Hare. 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 266 Why should he suffer ony o' his yelpin curs to bite the heels o' the Shepherd—perhaps hound him on wi' his ain gleg voice and ee? |
4. transf. To incite or set (a person)
at or
on another; to incite or urge
on.
| 1570 Buchanan Admonit. Wks. (1892) 25 Nor ȝit haif hundit furth proud..ȝoung men to herry, slay [etc.]. a 1616 Beaum. & Fl. Bonduca iii. iii, Hold good sword, but this day, And bite hard where I hound thee. 1679 Lond. Gaz. No. 1406/2 Who shall discover his Complices, and such as hounded them out. 1833 Mrs. Browning Prometh. Bound Poems 1850 I. 143 Will hound thee at this quarry! 1860 Motley Netherl. (1868) II. xv. 223 It was idle..to hound the rabble upon them as tyrants and mischief-makers. 1874 Green Short Hist. viii. §2. 472 The Ecclesiastical Commission was hounded on to a fresh persecution. |
Hence
ˈhounded,
ˈhounding ppl. adjs. Also
ˈhounder, one who hounds, incites, or urges.
| 1573 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxix. 216 Doun fra that Crage Kirkcaldy sall reteir, With schame and sclander lyke ane hundit fox. 1597 R. Bruce in Wodrow Life (1843) 178 If we were the hounders, then, I ask, who stayed it? 1848 Lytton Harold x. ii, The Orestes escapes from the hounding Furies. 1866 Ch. Times 10 Feb., A hounder-on of popular clamour against the self-same law in England. |