HOUND
What does "HOUND" mean?
A dog of a breed used for hunting, especially by scent; or to pursue someone relentlessly.
Meanings
- A dog used in hunting, especially one that tracks prey by scent or sight. The hounds caught the scent and bayed into the woods.
- To pursue or harass someone persistently. Reporters hounded the actor for weeks after the verdict.
- A keen enthusiast of a particular thing (often as a combining word). He's a real news hound, glued to the headlines all day. informal
Did you know?
- 'Hound' was once the everyday word for any dog - Old English 'hund' - and only shrank to 'hunting dog' after the upstart word 'dog' took over the general job.
- A bloodhound's nose is so precise it can follow a trail days old, and its tracking has been admitted as evidence in court.
Word origin
From Old English 'hund', the general word for dog, from Proto-Germanic '*hundaz'; cognate with German 'Hund'. In English it narrowed to mean a hunting dog as 'dog' took over the general sense.
Remember it
HOUND has 'OUND' that sounds like 'around' - a hound chases its quarry around and around until it's caught.
A little poem
Nose to the cold earth, the world a long thread-
it does not see the fox, it reads the air,
and follows the ghost of where something fled.
tercet
Wordplay
- The reporter and the bloodhound were a perfect pair: one hounded the story, the other had the nose for it.
What it teaches
Relentless pursuit reads the trail, not the prize; follow the scent and the quarry follows.
Quick facts
What does HOUND mean?
A dog of a breed used for hunting, especially by scent; or to pursue someone relentlessly.
Is HOUND a valid word?
Yes — HOUND is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.
How many letters is HOUND?
HOUND has 5 letters and 1 syllable.
Where does HOUND come from?
From Old English 'hund', the general word for dog, from Proto-Germanic '*hundaz'; cognate with German 'Hund'. In English it narrowed to mean a hunting dog as 'dog' took over the general sense.
What can HOUND teach us?
Relentless pursuit reads the trail, not the prize; follow the scent and the quarry follows.
How players do
Be the first to solve it.