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hone1

[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.
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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.
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Origin of hone1

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

  • 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

hone1

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
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verb
  1. (tr) to sharpen or polish with or as if with a hone
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Word Origin

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

hone2

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

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.

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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.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper