hood
noun
a soft or flexible covering for the head and neck, either separate or attached to a cloak, coat, or the like.
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hood
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'hood
'hoodnouna neighborhood, especially an urban neighborhood inhabited predominantly by African Americans of low socioeconomic status.
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Hood
HoodnounJohn Bell, 1831–79, Confederate general in the U.S. Civil War.
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-hood
-hooda native English suffix denoting state, condition, character, nature, etc., or a body of persons of a particular character or class, formerly used in the formation of nouns: childhood; likelihood; knighthood; priesthood .
hood
1 American
[hood]
/ hʊd /
noun
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a soft or flexible covering for the head and neck, either separate or attached to a cloak, coat, or the like.
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something resembling or suggesting such a covering, especially in shape, as certain petals or sepals.
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the hinged, movable part of an automobile body covering the engine.
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British. the roof of a carriage.
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a metal cover or canopy for a stove, ventilator, etc.
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Falconry. a cover for the entire head of a hawk, used when the bird is not in pursuit of game.
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an ornamental ruffle or fold on the back of the shoulders of an academic gown, jurist's robe, etc.
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a crest or band of color on the head of certain birds and animals.
verb (used with object)
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hoods,
present (3rd person singular)
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hooded,
past participle, past
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hooding
present participle
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to furnish with a hood.
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to cover with or as if with a hood.
hood
2
American
[hood, hood]
/ hʊd, hud /
noun
Slang.
'hood
3
American
[hood]
/ hʊd /
Or
hood
noun
Slang.
Hood
4
American
[hood]
/ hʊd /
noun
-
John Bell, 1831–79, Confederate general in the U.S. Civil War.
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Raymond Mathewson 1881–1934, U.S. architect.
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Robin. Robin Hood.
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Thomas, 1799–1845, English poet and humorist.
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Mount, a volcanic peak in N Oregon, in the Cascade Range. 11,253 feet (3,430 meters).
-hood
5
American
hood
1
British
/ hʊd /
noun
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a loose head covering either attached to a cloak or coat or made as a separate garment
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something resembling this in shape or use
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the US and Canadian name for bonnet
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the folding roof of a convertible car
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a hoodlike garment worn over an academic gown, indicating its wearer's degree and university
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falconry a close-fitting cover, placed over the head and eyes of a falcon to keep it quiet when not hunting
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biology a structure or marking, such as the fold of skin on the head of a cobra, that covers or appears to cover the head or some similar part
verb
Hood
2
British
/ hʊd /
noun
-
See Robin Hood
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Samuel, 1st Viscount. 1724–1816, British admiral. He fought successfully against the French during the American Revolution and the French Revolutionary Wars
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Thomas. 1799–1845, British poet and humorist: his work includes protest poetry, such as The Song of the Shirt (1843) and The Bridge of Sighs (1844)
-hood
3
British
suffix
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indicating state or condition of being
manhood
adulthood
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indicating a body of persons
knighthood
priesthood
'hood
4
British
/ hʊd /
noun
hood
5
British
/ hʊd /
noun
Usage
What does -hood mean? The suffix -hood is used to indicate “a state of being” or "a group of a particular characteristic or class." It is often used in a variety of technical and everyday terms. The form -hood comes from Old English hād, meaning “condition” or “rank.” Similar suffixes in Latin include -itās and -tūdō, both of which indicate a state of being and are the sources of the English suffixes -ity and -tude. Check out our entries for both suffixes to learn how frequently they appear.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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hoodsimple
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hoodssimple
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have hoodedperfect
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has hoodedperfect
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am hoodingprogressive
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are hoodingprogressive
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is hoodingprogressive
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have been hoodingperfect progressive
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has been hoodingperfect progressive
Past
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hoodedsimple
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had hoodedperfect
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was hoodingprogressive
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were hoodingprogressive
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had been hoodingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hood1
First recorded before 900, in 1925–30 hood 1 for def. 3 (an Americanism); Middle English hode, Old English hōd; cognate with Old Frisian hōde, Dutch hoed, German Hut hat
Origin of hood2
First recorded in 1925–30; by shortening
Origin of 'hood3
First recorded in 1965–70; African American Vernacular English; by shortening
Origin of -hood5
Middle English -hode, -hod, Old English -hād (cognate with German -heit ), special use of hād condition, state, order, quality, rank
Explanation
A hood is a protective covering. It could be a car hood protecting the engine or your car or it could be the hood on your coat protecting your noggin. Your favorite sweatshirt might have a hood, as well as your fur-lined winter coat and your insulated hood for scuba diving. Other things with a similar protective quality are also called hoods, like the metal vent cover over your stove, the cover on your car's engine, and the cap-like plant sections that cover vulnerable parts. One of the most famous hoods in literature is the red one worn by the main character in "Little Red Riding Hood."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
If we lift the hood on some of these conspiracies, we can understand what people are really afraid of.
From Salon ● Oct. 15, 2026
“But the market underneath the hood has still been affected by interest rates.”
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026
A polite middle-aged man raised my hood, duct-taped the hose, and followed me as I limped to a service station.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Architect William Van Alen modelled the eagle gargoyles on hood ornaments found on the 1929 Chrysler car.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
They reached up and pulled back on something invisible—a hood.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
"But we make black music first and foremost, and all our records is 'hood first'."
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2025
“I’m not even in the ghetto. I’m not in the ‘hood.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 27, 2023
But it’s in his youngest son that he has found his greatest achievement, this icon of the ’hood making his biggest moves at home.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2023
"They Cloned Tyrone," directed and co-written by Juel Taylor, is a futuristic 'hood mystery based around a white and white-adjacent corporate agenda to control the Black community through fried chicken, drugs and perms.
From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2023
When rap was born, the early rap stars were not rapping about gangsta life, but “My Adidas” and good times in the ’hood in tunes like “Rapper’s Delight.”
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
“The best solution here is revenue growth,” Microsoft CFO Amy Hood said on the company’s earnings call.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026
Its overall capital expenditures reached $45.2 billion, around three-quarters of which was spent on "short-lived assets" like memory chips and storage, Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood said.
From Barron's ● Oct. 28, 2026
The steady gains in his portfolio have allowed for some splurges, like the nine-day Caribbean cruise he booked for him and his mother, Kitty Zakrzewski, once Hood Summit wrapped.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Jeff Hood: Well, none of them are good, but there are some that function certainly more systematically than others.
From Slate ● Oct. 7, 2026
Robin Hood looks up at David, a mixture of hope and longing in his eyes.
From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan
When joined together, the h- of the -hood is put in immediate apposition with the s of the monks-.
From A Handbook of the English Language by R. G. (Robert Gordon) Latham
His sister, Alejandra, recalled Magaña as an easygoing charmer who would chat up strangers on the street and who found joy in tinkering under the hoods of his five cars.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
A resident told UK media she had alerted emergency services after seeing three vans blocking a road near the village and a group of men wearing hoods and balaclavas.
From Barron's ● Sep. 27, 2026
The thin aluminum sheets produced at the plant are later stamped into fenders, hoods and other exterior vehicle parts.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
Mr Clothier explains: "The methanogenic bacteria are gobbling up all the solids and generating loads of lovely methane, which we then catch in the hoods over the top."
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2025
She stopped by a CVS and bought costumes—matching ninja outfits that were more or less black plastic sheets with hoods.
From "Outcasts United: An American Town, a Refugee Team, and One Woman's Quest to Make a Difference" by Warren St. John
Now the owners display an 8-foot-tall ghoulish hooded character that arches over the sidewalk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026
Surrounded by hooded police officers, Claudia Pardo, head of communications for the prosecutor's office, denounced the raid as "illegal."
From Barron's ● Oct. 1, 2026
There was "a large group of hooded and masked men" near the vans who started to "panic" when they saw her, she told Radio 4's Today programme.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
Osaka took the court wearing a long, hooded gown — possibly inspired by Iverson’s hoodies and baggy clothes from back in the day — with newspaper clippings about her attached to it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
The hooded Death Eater’s shout reached Harry even above the thunder of the motorbike’s engine: Next moment, both pursuers had fallen back and disappeared from view.
From "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" by J.K. Rowling
Their accounts echo those of the Negra Francisca crew: cuffing and hooding by armed English-speakers before being turned over to a Salvadoran patrol craft, which took them to El Salvador.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
The upper tends to address hooding and volume loss of the eyelid, while the lower focuses on puffiness and dark circles or hollowing under the eye, says Dr. Flora Levin, a Connecticut-based oculoplastic surgeon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 1, 2026
She attended a Baptist pastor’s hooding ceremony, a public event for a Japanese sister city, and a luau held by a local nonprofit’s C.E.O.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 12, 2019
Horrified Sir John told the inquiry he had not been aware of the ruling by former Prime Minister Edward Heath in 1972 outlawing hooding.
From BBC ● May 18, 2010
Jon went from one mews to another, hooding each occupant and carrying it to his tour van.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
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