hound

noun

\ ˈhau̇nd

Definition of hound

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : dog

b : a dog of any of numerous hunting breeds including both scent hounds (such as the bloodhound and beagle) and sight hounds (such as the greyhound and Afghan hound)

2 : a mean or despicable person

3 : dogfish

4 : a person who pursues like a hound especially : one who avidly seeks or collects something autograph hounds

hound

verb

hounded; hounding; hounds

Definition of hound (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1 : to pursue with or as if with hounds

2 : to drive or affect by persistent harassing

Other Words from hound Synonyms & Antonyms Choose the Right Synonym Example Sentences Learn More about hound

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Synonyms & Antonyms for hound

Synonyms: Noun

canine, dog, doggy (or doggie), pooch, tyke (also tike)

Synonyms: Verb

bird-dog, chase, course, dog, follow, pursue, run, shadow, tag, tail, trace, track, trail

Antonyms: Verb

guide, lead, pilot

Choose the Right Synonym for hound

Verb

bait, badger, heckle, hector, chivy, hound mean to harass by efforts to break down. bait implies wanton cruelty or delight in persecuting a helpless victim. baited the chained dog badger implies pestering so as to drive a person to confusion or frenzy. badgered her father for a car heckle implies persistent annoying or belligerent interruptions of a speaker. drunks heckled the stand-up comic hector carries an implication of bullying and domineering. football players hectored by their coach chivy suggests persecution by teasing or nagging. chivied the new student mercilessly hound implies unrelenting pursuit and harassing. hounded by creditors

Examples of hound in a Sentence

Noun

in the yard an old hound greeted us with a single bark a camera hound even before the baby arrived, he's now become obsessive

Verb

He is being hounded by the press. They hounded me with questions. They hounded me for my autograph. hound a politician out of office

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

Colombian police recently revealed that the Gulf Clan, a cartel that boasts its own guerrilla army, has offered a reward of $7,000 to whoever kills or captures the savvy hound. — Manuel Rueda, Fox News, "Extraordinary drug dog worries Colombian cartel," 27 July 2018 Bella also kept things low-key in black-and-white hounds-tooth pants, a black henley, and a red version of the celebratory accessory. — Zoë Weiner, Teen Vogue, "Kendall Jenner Wore a Tiny Paper Hat for Her 23rd Birthday," 5 Nov. 2018 A few months ago, the tenacious hound also sniffed out 77 kilos of cocaine placed deep inside an industrial machine. — Manuel Rueda, Fox News, "Extraordinary drug dog worries Colombian cartel," 27 July 2018 Washington voters approved two initiatives in 1996 and 2000, which together banned the use of bait, hounds and body-gripping traps to kill bears. — Phuong Le, The Seattle Times, "Group sues Washington Fish and Wildlife over bear killings," 2 June 2018 A hundred years ago pretty much every secondary non-state school in England had its own pack of hounds. — Anna Silman, The Cut, "What Was It Like to Go to School With Prince Harry?," 18 May 2018 He and Valenzuela have two dogs, a Jack Russell/Chihuahua mix named Indiana Jones and a Labrador retriever/hound mix named Clara Barton. — Benjy Egel, sacbee, "Pub meets pug? Sacramento's new dog hangout will serve booze, coffee and bar food," 22 June 2018 That’s more and more likely now that Trump’s immigration hound dogs have more access to information about those seeking to sponsor a child in U.S. custody. — Dahleen Glanton, chicagotribune.com, "With Trump, U.S. has ceded the moral high ground on immigration," 21 June 2018 While pseudonymous, payments on the Bitcoin blockchain are far from untraceable, a fact that has inspired competing currencies marketed to true privacy hounds, such as Zcash and Monero. — Gregory Barber, WIRED, "Someone Found a Use for Bitcoin. Russian Hackers!," 13 July 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Thomas would hound Young into lots of inefficient shots, and his length also would enable him to match up with several other players on Dan’s team. — The Si Staff, SI.com, "SI’s 2018 College Basketball All-Star Team Rosters," 16 Feb. 2018 And at least in Ischia, unlike at home, Elena isn’t hounded and undermined by her mother or threatened by the Marcello brothers. — Constance Grady, Vox, "My Brilliant Friend offers Elena an escape — then yanks it away," 9 Dec. 2018 The animals include tabby cats, hound mixes and Chihuahua mixes. — Fox News, "Animals evacuated from Virginia ahead of Hurricane Florence," 12 Sep. 2018 The dog days are over, Amazon promises after Prime Day problems hounded the company yesterday. — Morning Brief, The Seattle Times, "Aberdeen museum recovers history from a fire, and Seattle is opening more tiny-house villages | Tuesday Morning Brief, July 17," 17 July 2018 Now even a hint of a kiss is forbidden in Egyptian movies, song lyrics are sanitized, and moral vigilantes hound artists through the courts. — Declan Walsh, New York Times, "Foreign Belly Dancers? Egyptians Shake Their Heads (and Hips)," 8 July 2018 Marquardt said that Ramos had hounded the paper and its employees with online threats for years. — Abigail Abrams, Time, "What to Know About the Suspected Capital Gazette Shooter," 29 June 2018 As the regime then furiously hounded the country’s best and brightest to build nuclear weapons— the pursuit of which ostensibly led to the 2003 invasion—science inadvertently and indirectly underwrote Iraq’s ruin. — Peter Schwartzstein, Smithsonian, "How Saddam and ISIS Killed Iraqi Science," 30 May 2018 Now Theresa May’s deal is in trouble — as is her prime ministership May defended her Brexit deal in Parliament on Thursday, getting hounded with criticism on all sides. — Jen Kirby, Vox, "The latest Brexit drama, explained," 15 Nov. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hound.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.