hide
1 Americanverb (used with object)
-
to conceal from sight; prevent from being seen or discovered.
Where did she hide her jewels?
-
to obstruct the view of; cover up.
The sun was hidden by the clouds.
-
to conceal from knowledge or exposure; keep secret.
to hide one's feelings.
verb (used without object)
noun
verb phrase
noun
-
the pelt or skin of one of the larger animals (cow, horse, buffalo, etc.), raw or dressed.
-
Informal.
-
the skin of a human being.
Get out of here or I'll tan your hide!
-
safety or welfare.
He's only worried about his own hide.
-
-
Australia and New Zealand Informal. impertinence; impudence.
verb (used with object)
-
Informal. to administer a beating to; thrash.
-
to protect (a rope, as a boltrope of a sail) with a covering of leather.
idioms
noun
verb
-
to put or keep (oneself or an object) in a secret place; conceal (oneself or an object) from view or discovery
to hide a pencil
to hide from the police
-
(tr) to conceal or obscure
the clouds hid the sun
-
(tr) to keep secret
-
(tr) to turn (one's head, eyes, etc) away
noun
noun
-
the skin of an animal, esp the tough thick skin of a large mammal, either tanned or raw
-
informal the human skin
-
informal impudence
verb
noun
Synonym Usage
Hide, conceal, secrete mean to put out of sight or in a secret place. Hide is the general word: to hide one's money or purpose; A dog hides a bone. Conceal, somewhat more formal, is to cover from sight: A rock concealed them from view. Secrete means to put away carefully, in order to keep secret: The spy secreted the important papers.
See skin.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of hide1
First recorded before 900; Middle English hiden, Old English hȳdan; cognate with Old Frisian hūda; akin to Greek keúthein “to hide”; see also hide 2 ( def. )
Origin of hide2
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English hȳd; cognate with Dutch huid, Old Norse hūth, Danish, Swedish hud, Old High German hūt ( German Haut ); akin to Latin cutis “skin,” Greek kýtos “hollow, container”; see also cutis, hide 1
Origin of hide3
First recorded before 900; Middle English hide, Old English hīd(e), hīg(i)d “portion of land, family,” from Germanic hīwidō; akin to Latin cīvis “citizen,” Greek keîsthai “to lie down, rest, remain, abide”
Explanation
You can hide your feelings or you can hide your mom’s birthday present. You can even hide yourself if you need to avoid someone. Whatever it is, when you hide something, you put it out of sight. Hide can mean that you keep something secret, like the way you really feel about your dad’s meatloaf. You can also hide something physical. If you spill juice on your white sofa, you can hide the stain with a pillow. Sometimes people hide also — that means the person stays out of sight. A bankrobber will hide from the police, or you might hide from your mom to avoid doing the dishes.
Vocabulary lists containing hide
Easter Vocabulary
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
"When Cultures Meet"
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
This was however undermined by a lack of proper health education to destigmatise the virus, meaning people often wanted to hide their symptoms, he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Lately, that scaffolding has become harder for restaurants to hide.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
They just hide in the murk of unknown facts.
From Slate ● Oct. 5, 2026
Most of Mekelle's stores remained shuttered on Sunday, with several business owners taking pains to hide their stocks from Thursday as the federal forces drew closer.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
He was lurking nearby, not even trying to hide the fact that he was watching me about to stuff my face.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
A Times reporter in Long Beach said it woke up them up and terrified their pet cat, which hid under a dining room table.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026
We wore KN95 masks—a modern version of the plague doctor beaks—and hid in our houses, and saw our hospitals overflow, and couldn’t be with our loved ones when they died.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026
This scheme managed to hide more than £830m of sponsorship funding, while other devices hid £90m in expenses.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
It is called “Mosul Eye,” and in it we discover the incredible story of the man who hid behind that name.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
“So that’s where she hid it,” said Clark.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
My cards on the table: Tesla’s valuation never made sense to me, but the risks haven’t been hidden from investors.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
The missions will search for underground caves that could shelter astronauts, investigate hidden deposits of lunar ice, and monitor environmental hazards that could threaten future explorers.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
It’s also the hidden lesson of the history Campbell and Doshi relate in their essay.
From Slate ● Oct. 8, 2026
In a pet store hidden away in Seattle’s Chinatown, he and his friend Joan came across one in a murky little tank.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
It lay dormant, hidden inside the very DNA of a Glitcher until it was triggered by a Glitch platform in ways I still didn’t completely understand.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
The moment the sound of raucous singing had hided around the corner, he slipped out of the gate and ran in the opposite direction.
From "The Golden Goblet" by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
"She's hided, and we can't find her anywhere," repeated Zaidee.
From Cricket at the Seashore by Harriet Roosevelt Richards
Sometimes they hided her for an hour together.
From The House of the Dead or Prison Life in Siberia with an introduction by Julius Bramont by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
She has never had a downright bad attack, like this one, therefore we could hide it from the servants and from Miss Annabel, but it couldn't be hided from him.
From The Story of Charles Strange Vol. 2 (of 3) A Novel by Mrs. Henry Wood
She hided my hat—Lina did; but if I'd gone home, straight home, and not gone to her house, then she couldn't have hided it.
From Dotty Dimple at Play by Sophie May
The 'little piece of post-war history hiding in plain sight'
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2026
Dalit, who survived with Achi and their three children by hiding in their own shelter for nearly 12 hours that day, recalls the last social media messages sent by Tamar to her neighbours.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
AI agents are breaking through safeguards, sneaking into outside systems and hiding from monitoring.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Britton, assigned to search the barn where Himmler was hiding, discovers, and is allowed to keep, the madman’s slippers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
Every time a trap snapped, he would look straight at my hiding place and squall.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
