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definitions

hoarding

1
[hawr-ding, hohr-]
See more synonyms for hoarding on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the act of a person who hoards.
  2. hoardings, things that are hoarded.

Origin of hoarding

1
First recorded in 1585–95; hoard + -ing1

hoarding

2
[hawr-ding, hohr-]
noun
  1. a temporary fence enclosing a construction site.
  2. British. a billboard.

Origin of hoarding

2
1815–25; obsolete hoard (≪ Old French hourd(e) palisade made of hurdles < Germanic; compare German Hürde hurdle) + -ing1

hoard

[hawrd, hohrd]
noun
  1. a supply or accumulation that is hidden or carefully guarded for preservation, future use, etc.: a vast hoard of silver.
verb (used with object)
  1. to accumulate for preservation, future use, etc., in a hidden or carefully guarded place: to hoard food during a shortage.
verb (used without object)
  1. to accumulate money, food, or the like, in a hidden or carefully guarded place for preservation, future use, etc.

Origin of hoard

before 900; Middle English hord(e), Old English hord; cognate with Old Norse hodd, Old High German hort, Gothic huzd treasure; see hide1, hide2
Related formshoard·er, nounun·hoard·ed, adjective
Can be confusedhoard horde

Synonyms for hoard

See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com
1. stockpile, reserve, cache, store, stock.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for hoarding

amass, stockpile, stash, gather, save, hide, squirrel, treasure, acquire, cache, garner, collect, deposit, scrimp, keep, store

Examples from the Web for hoarding

Contemporary Examples of hoarding

  • Panicked, I reached out to hoarding experts, who often refer to any kind of obsessive digital collecting as “infomania.”

    The Daily Beast logo
    I’m a Digital Hoarder

    Lizzie Crocker

    December 17, 2014

  • Perhaps I should be more understanding, now that my own hoarding tendencies are flaring up.

    The Daily Beast logo
    I’m a Digital Hoarder

    Lizzie Crocker

    December 17, 2014

  • But in the Digital Age, we're at risk of a new type of hoarding that is equally problematic.

    The Daily Beast logo
    I’m a Digital Hoarder

    Lizzie Crocker

    December 17, 2014

  • The financial system is awash with money, yet the Federal Reserve accuses both consumers and institutions of hoarding it.

    The Daily Beast logo
    How Young People Are Destroying Liberty

    James Poulos

    October 11, 2014

  • Hoarding is now a cottage industry, as shoppers try to get a jump on price gougers by snapping up staple goods by the trunk-load.

    The Daily Beast logo

Historical Examples of hoarding

  • She had been hoarding it up for that secret hour, and now she was alone with it, and all the world was still.

  • The Pasha also seems perfectly indifferent to hoarding money.

  • Nearly every other omnibus carried the legend of The Plague-Spot; every hoarding had it.

    A Great Man

    Arnold Bennett

  • Thousands of millions of tons of it, while we've been hoarding it by grams.

    Masters of Space

    Edward Elmer Smith

  • "Hoarding," a voice answered, and others supplied the few details.

    Police Your Planet

    Lester del Rey

British Dictionary definitions for hoarding

hoarding

noun
  1. a large board used for displaying advertising posters, as by a roadAlso called (esp US and Canadian): billboard
  2. a temporary wooden fence erected round a building or demolition site

Word Origin for hoarding

C19: from C15 hoard fence, from Old French hourd palisade, of Germanic origin, related to Gothic haurds, Old Norse hurth door

hoard

noun
  1. an accumulated store hidden away for future use
  2. a cache of ancient coins, treasure, etc
verb
  1. to gather or accumulate (a hoard)
Derived Formshoarder, noun

Word Origin for hoard

Old English hord; related to Old Norse hodd, Gothic huzd, German Hort, Swedish hydda hut

usage

Hoard is sometimes wrongly written where horde is meant: hordes (not hoards) of tourists
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for hoarding

hoard

n.

Old English hord "treasure, valuable stock or store," from Proto-Germanic *huzdam (cf. Old Saxon hord "treasure, hidden or inmost place," Old Norse hodd, German Hort, Gothic huzd "treasure," literally "hidden treasure"), from PIE root *(s)keu- "to cover, conceal" (see hide (n.1)).

hoard

v.

Old English hordian, cognate with Old High German gihurten, German gehorden, Gothic huzdjan, from the root of hoard (n.). Related: Hoarded; hoarding.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper