foxhound

noun

fox·​hound ˈfäks-ˌhau̇nd How to pronounce foxhound (audio)
: any of various large swift powerful hounds of great endurance used in hunting foxes and developed to form several breeds and many distinctive strains compare american foxhound, english foxhound

Examples of foxhound in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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Guy Avis of Dean in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, was participating in the Heythrop Hunt foxhound event with nearly 100 other riders near Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, at the time of the incident, per BBC. Angel Saunders, People.com, 22 Aug. 2025 As a Treeing Walker Coonhound and foxhound mix, Carrot can't keep her paws on the ground. Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 17 Apr. 2025 Breed clubs created prescriptive standards that specified exactly how the perfect pointer (or bulldog or foxhound) should look. Emily Anthes, New York Times, 9 Feb. 2025 Since 2015, the family has fostered almost 35 dogs from the Richmond Animal League, and the newest addition to their family is beagle foxhound mix, Roscoe. Gord Magill, Newsweek, 22 Dec. 2024 Virginia Virginia doesn't have an official state mammal, but its state bat is the Virginia Big-eared bat and its state dog is the American foxhound. Clare Mulroy, USA TODAY, 8 Apr. 2023 In October, a four-year-old foxhound was rescued from a drain pipe in Boston after the dog snuck into the storm drain during a walk with his owner. Greta Bjornson, PEOPLE.com, 6 Nov. 2021 The foxhound scaled an 8-foot fence and went hunting. John Schandelmeier, Anchorage Daily News, 16 Jan. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1763, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of foxhound was circa 1763

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Cite this Entry

“Foxhound.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/foxhound. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.

Kids Definition

foxhound

noun
fox·​hound -ˌhau̇nd How to pronounce foxhound (audio)
: a large swift powerful hound of any of several breeds often trained to hunt foxes

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