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definitions

hone

1
[hohn]
noun
  1. a whetstone of fine, compact texture for sharpening razors and other cutting tools.
  2. a precision tool with a mechanically rotated abrasive tip, for enlarging holes to precise dimensions.
verb (used with object), honed, hon·ing.
  1. to sharpen on a hone: to hone a carving knife.
  2. to enlarge or finish (a hole) with a hone.
  3. to make more acute or effective; improve; perfect: to hone one's skills.

Origin of hone

1
before 950; Middle English (noun); Old English hān stone, rock; cognate with Old Norse hein hone; akin to cone
Related formshon·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for honer

Historical Examples of honer

  • For nothing at all, your honer: that's just it; but ould Kennyfeck put him up to it.

    Roland Cashel

    Charles James Lever

  • But his genius won him world praise, and later, honer in his own country.

    Historic Fredericksburg

    John T. Goolrick

  • The Captain brought his weapon up to the salute, and said, "Major, the honer is moine; I'm deloighted to see ye."

    The History of Pendennis

    William Makepeace Thackeray

  • "It ain't bein' a crowned head, but it's honer'ble," pleaded the sick man, continuing the conversation.

  • I do, your honer, jist for my wife's mother, ye see; but I live down towards Cash.

British Dictionary definitions for honer

hone

1
noun
  1. a fine whetstone, esp for sharpening razors
  2. a tool consisting of a number of fine abrasive slips held in a machine head, rotated and reciprocated to impart a smooth finish to cylinder bores, etc
verb
  1. (tr) to sharpen or polish with or as if with a hone

Word Origin for hone

Old English hān stone; related to Old Norse hein

usage

Hone is sometimes wrongly used where home is meant: this device makes it easier to home in on (not hone in on) the target

hone

2
verb (intr) dialect
  1. (often foll by for or after) to yearn or pine
  2. to moan or grieve

Word Origin for hone

C17: from Old French hogner to growl, probably of Germanic origin; compare Old High German hōnen to revile
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 honer
n.

1826, agent noun from hone (v.); early 14c. as a surname.

hone

n.

"whetstone," Old English han "stone, rock, (boundary) stone," in Middle English "whetstone" (early 14c.), from Proto-Germanic *haino (cf. Old Norse hein "hone"). The verb is 1788, from the noun. Related: Honed; honing.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper