Wordalso written hound meaning, what does hound mean, hounded, hounding, hound someone, bloodhound

hound

Meaning

Hound is a noun for a hunting dog (or, informally, a person who pursues something avidly) and a verb meaning to chase or harass someone persistently.

Meanings of “hound”

  1. A dog bred or used for hunting, often with a strong sense of smell or speed; Oxford and Cambridge both gloss this as a hunting dog.123

    Tone
    Neutral; common in hunting, sports, and animal contexts.
    Where you’ll see it
    What does hound mean as a noun in everyday English is usually a hunting dog. Merriam-Webster also allows a broader “dog” sense and names scent hounds (bloodhound, beagle) and sight hounds (greyhound, Afghan hound).

    Examples

    • The hounds picked up a scent.
    • We could hear the hounds barking in the distance.
    • Bloodhounds followed the trail through the woods.

    Examples are written for this site to show typical use. They are not quotes.

  2. A person who pursues someone or something relentlessly; Merriam-Webster also lists “a mean or despicable person” and collector senses such as “autograph hounds.”34

    Tone
    Informal to journalistic; can be disapproving.
    Where you’ll see it
    Hound meaning for people is figurative: newshounds, bargain hounds, or someone described as a bloodhound for digging up facts (Cambridge’s bloodhound “person” sense).

    Examples

    • Camera hounds waited outside the courthouse.
    • She is a bloodhound when she chases a lead.
    • Autograph hounds crowded the stage door.

  3. To chase someone or refuse to leave them alone, especially to get something from them; Cambridge equates this with harass.23

    Tone
    Neutral descriptive; often negative for the person being pursued.
    Where you’ll see it
    What does it mean to hound someone is persistent pursuit: reporters hounding a celebrity, creditors hounding a debtor. Merriam-Webster dates the verb to 1528 and groups it with chase, track, and pursue.

    Examples

    • The reporters would not stop hounding her.
    • They hounded me with questions.
    • Socialists were hounded by the FBI in the 1950s. (Cambridge Academic example)

Usage notes

  • Hound someone / hound out: Cambridge lists the phrasal pattern of chasing someone persistently; related wording includes hounding someone out of a job or office (see Merriam-Webster example “hound a politician out of office”).
  • Bloodhound: Cambridge defines the dog (keen scent, long ears) and a figurative determined pursuer of information or people.
  • Do not confuse the hunting-dog noun with the harassment verb; context usually makes the sense clear.

Origin

Oxford Learner’s traces hound to Old English hund (“dog”), Germanic, related to Dutch hond and German Hund, from an Indo-European root shared with Greek kuōn. Merriam-Webster likewise cites Old English hund and dates the noun before the 12th century.13

Sources

  1. hound noun — Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries

    oxfordlearnersdictionaries.comAccessed Back to text

    https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/hound_1

  2. hound — Cambridge Dictionary

    dictionary.cambridge.orgAccessed Back to text

    https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/hound

  3. hound — Merriam-Webster

    merriam-webster.comAccessed Back to text

    https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hound

  4. bloodhound — Cambridge Dictionary

    dictionary.cambridge.orgAccessed Back to text

    https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/bloodhound