plural hoards
: a supply or fund stored up and often hidden away
a hoard of cash
hoarded; hoarding; hoards
1
: to collect and often hide away a supply of : to accumulate a hoard (see hoard entry 1) of
hoarding food
2
: to keep (something, such as one's thoughts) to oneself
… she hoarded her intention …—
Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolfthe people outside disperse their affections, you hoard yours, you nurse them into intensity—Joseph Conrad
Joseph Conrad
: to collect and often hide away a supply of something
specifically
: to engage in compulsive hoarding
One thing people who hoard have in common is a skewed perceived value of possessions. —Connie McDougall
Connie McDougall
plural hoards
: a temporary board fence put around a building being erected or repaired : hoarding entry 2 sense 1
Examples of hoard in a Sentence
Noun (1)
a squirrel's hoard of nuts
keeps a hoard of empty yogurt containers in his basement workshop for storing whatnots
Verb
he's been hoarding empty yogurt containers all winter, with the intention of using them to start seedlings in the spring
Recent Examples on the Web
David Goldman, CNN Money, 30 Mar. 2026
Along with its hoard of 25 Sunday Night Baseball outings, NBC also will kickstart the postseason with an exclusive staging of the Wild Card round.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 25 Mar. 2026
The Week Us, TheWeek, 30 Mar. 2026
One person suffered a minor burn injury in an early-morning house blaze in Hartford on Wednesday, where crews had to battle heavy fire in hoarding conditions on Wednesday, fire officials said.
—Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 25 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hoard
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Noun
That has given businesses and consumers a window to front load and hoard, boosting spending.
—David Goldman, CNN Money, 30 Mar. 2026
Along with its hoard of 25 Sunday Night Baseball outings, NBC also will kickstart the postseason with an exclusive staging of the Wild Card round.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 25 Mar. 2026
Verb
People in India are hoarding cooking gas.
—The Week Us, TheWeek, 30 Mar. 2026
One person suffered a minor burn injury in an early-morning house blaze in Hartford on Wednesday, where crews had to battle heavy fire in hoarding conditions on Wednesday, fire officials said.
—Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 25 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for hoard
Cite this Entry
“Hoard.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hoard. Accessed 4 Apr. 2026.
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