hide
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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to conceal from sight; prevent from being seen or discovered.
Where did she hide her jewels?
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to obstruct the view of; cover up.
The sun was hidden by the clouds.
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to conceal from knowledge or exposure; keep secret.
to hide one's feelings.
verb (used without object)
noun
verb phrase
noun
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the pelt or skin of one of the larger animals (cow, horse, buffalo, etc.), raw or dressed.
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Informal.
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the skin of a human being.
Get out of here or I'll tan your hide!
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safety or welfare.
He's only worried about his own hide.
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Australia and New Zealand Informal. impertinence; impudence.
verb (used with object)
-
Informal. to administer a beating to; thrash.
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to protect (a rope, as a boltrope of a sail) with a covering of leather.
idioms
noun
verb
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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
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(tr) to conceal or obscure
the clouds hid the sun
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(tr) to keep secret
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(tr) to turn (one's head, eyes, etc) away
noun
noun
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the skin of an animal, esp the tough thick skin of a large mammal, either tanned or raw
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informal the human skin
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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
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"We Wear the Mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar
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"When Cultures Meet"
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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:
“You don’t hide behind the fact that the fourth quarter wasn’t good enough. But I’m also not going to pretend we didn’t dominate that game through three quarters.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026
When law enforcement tries to trace bribes or tax evasion, criminals can easily hide among the hundreds of thousands of legal shell companies whose owners were only using them to lower their taxes.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
It is debatable whether Microsoft should be allowed to hide the ball this way.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 26, 2026
"I never really tried to hide myself from anybody. I think that's one of the reasons I'm still around, people feel like they know me."
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
I hide in the dark under my comforter with my travel sweets, furious, but mostly weary of it all.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
But in most of those earlier cases, presidents at least hid behind principle.
From Slate ● Aug. 31, 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
The law requires the Parole Board to take into consideration a killer's refusal to disclose where they hid their victim's body.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Just a few feet away, the man she hired more than three years ago to handle her naturalization case hid in his office, seemingly avoiding her.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Once, they took their father’s signed Derek Jeter baseball and hid it under Danny’s pillow.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
Eventually John meets his fate by falling through a portal into an abandoned mall, then following signs directing him to a manager’s office hidden in its bowels.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026
The work revealed previously hidden species diversity and helped resolve a taxonomic problem that had remained unsettled for years.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 30, 2026
People have been warned to stay away from a popular beauty spot pond used for swimming and other water sports due to "hidden hazards" exposed by reduced water levels.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
She has seen “The American President” and “The Prestige” 150 times each, but I’ll always push to watch some hidden gem that’s been on our list for the past decade.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 28, 2026
I re-read the postcard, examining each sentence for hidden messages, but nothing stands out.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
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 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'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's a real naughty little girl," thought Miss Dimple; "and if she hadn't hided my hat, I'd go right home."
From Dotty Dimple at Play by Sophie May
Detailed observations and measurements showed that the monkeys can nevertheless bend parts of their feet enough to climb narrow vertical tree trunks while seeking food, hiding or finding places to sleep.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 31, 2026
She and her sister both approve of hiding the numbers of likes and restricting filters.
From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026
Still fragile and sickly, he was dismissed by one rival, Agrippa relates, as “a flimsy scrap of a man hiding behind an enormous name.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
The Zambian opposition leader who was runner-up in this month's disputed presidential election surrendered to police on Thursday after two weeks in hiding following a summons over an alleged national security threat, state media reported.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
And kept hiding out from the truth, even to myself.
From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu
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.
