hound
1 Americannoun
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one of any of several breeds of dogs trained to pursue game either by sight or by scent, especially one with a long face and large drooping ears.
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Informal. any dog.
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Slang.
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an unpleasant, mean, or despicable person.
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a man who chases women; a promiscuous man.
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Informal. an ardent fan or devotee.
an autograph hound.
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one of the pursuers in the game of hare and hounds.
verb (used with object)
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hounds,
present (3rd person singular)
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hounded,
past participle, past
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hounding
present participle
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to hunt or track with hounds, or as a hound does; pursue.
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to pursue or harass without respite.
Her little brother wouldn't stop hounding her.
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to incite (a hound) to pursuit or attack; urge on.
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Informal. to incite or urge (a person) to do something (often followed byon ).
The committee has been hounded on by those who want these repairs done immediately.
idioms
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ride to hounds, to participate in a hunt, whether as a member of the field or of the hunt staff.
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follow the hounds, to participate in a hunt, especially as a member of the field.
noun
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Nautical. either of a pair of fore-and-aft members at the lower end of the head of a mast, for supporting the trestletrees, that support an upper mast at its heel.
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a horizontal bar or brace, usually one of a pair, for strengthening the running gear of a horse-drawn wagon or the like.
noun
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any of several breeds of dog used for hunting
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( in combination )
an otterhound
a deerhound
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a pack of foxhounds, etc
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a dog, esp one regarded as annoying
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a despicable person
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(in hare and hounds) a runner who pursues a hare
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slang an enthusiast
an autograph hound
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short for houndfish See also nursehound
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to take part in a fox hunt with hounds
verb
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to pursue or chase relentlessly
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to urge on
noun
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either of a pair of horizontal bars that reinforce the running gear of a horse-drawn vehicle
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nautical either of a pair of fore-and-aft braces that serve as supports for a topmast
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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houndsimple
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houndssimple
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have houndedperfect
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has houndedperfect
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am houndingprogressive
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are houndingprogressive
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is houndingprogressive
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have been houndingperfect progressive
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has been houndingperfect progressive
Past
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houndedsimple
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had houndedperfect
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was houndingprogressive
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were houndingprogressive
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had been houndingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of hound1
First recorded before 900; Middle English h(o)und, Old English hund; cognate with Dutch hond, Old Norse hundr, Danish, Swedish hund, German Hund, Gothic hunds; akin to Latin canis, Greek kýōn (genitive kynós ), Sanskrit śván (genitive śunas ), Old Irish cú (genitive con ), Welsh ci (plural cwn ), Tocharian A kū, Lithuanian šuõ
Origin of hound2
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English houn(e), hune, from Old Norse hūnn “knob at the top of a masthead”
Explanation
A hound is a type of dog with big floppy ears, mainly used for hunting. To hound someone is to relentlessly pursue or pester them. When Elvis sings, “You ain’t nothing but a hound dog,” he’s referring to both. Hounds are dogs that have traditionally been used for hunting because they are excellent at tracking. Most hounds (like beagles and dachshunds) have drooping, floppy ears. Hounds can also be big and scary like the one Sherlock Holmes investigates in The Hound of the Baskervilles. If people hound, they hunt, too, but just in an annoying way. A man can hound a woman by asking for a date 10 times. A hounding person is persistent and probably annoying.
Vocabulary lists containing hound
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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:
For years, tourists have visited a village hidden in the Welsh mountains of Eryri for its breathtaking beauty and a grave commemorating a faithful hound slain by his master in the 13th Century.
From BBC ● Jun. 10, 2026
It’s like telling me you beat your basset hound in tennis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 29, 2025
Among typical dog breeds, the great Anglo-French tricolor hound had the strongest signal at 4.7 to 5.7 percent, followed by the Shiloh shepherd at 2.7 percent.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 29, 2025
This was not the first time in my uncle’s 30-year incarceration that we’ve had to hound the Florida Department of Corrections for answers about his well-being.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2025
And I pictured him running down that pathway in the valley with his own hound of heaven at his heels.
From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier
She made the ferry journey over to England with a fellow Dutch breeder friend and seven pooches between them -- three of them Swedish Vallhunds and four other hounds.
From Barron's ● Mar. 5, 2026
Meanwhile, a runaway slave shows up out back, pursued by hounds, having heard that the Van Lew house is the place to run for help.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
Ms Portwin said Countryside Alliance wanted to find a way to "protect those jobs and homes for the hunt staff and protect our packs of hounds".
From BBC ● Dec. 26, 2025
With a major role in Josh Safdie’s madcap ping-pong riot, “Marty Supreme,” Paltrow is rounding out the year with a bang, earning her last laugh against gossip hounds and Goop critics.
From Salon ● Dec. 22, 2025
Through the portcullis there came a sorrowful howling to bear out Sir Grummore’s statement, as it had been thirty couple of hounds baying the moon.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
But she was the one that the paparazzi hounded most fiercely, feeding malicious tabloid coverage focused on her body image and weight.
From Salon ● Aug. 19, 2026
The woman described how Robertson hounded her with an "obsessive" amount of calls and voicemails, and sent gifts to theatres where she was performing.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
His Othello is hounded into a betrayal of his probity and hard-earned honor not just by the villainy of Iago but by the demons of his past.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
Brunson, hounded mercilessly by the Spurs, didn't make a basket until the second quarter.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
Deborah hounded Lawrence to tell her anything he remembered about their sister and mother.
From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
Spitzer set the mold for the modern, powerful state attorney general by ruthlessly hounding Wall Street.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
The year before, billionaire Bill Ackman was invited for a friendly Q&A after hounding Harvard’s president out of office, and grievance-fueled media entrepreneur Bari Weiss presented a rallying plug for her Substack.
From Slate ● May 8, 2026
He’s been hounding Alijah about getting in the gym.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 11, 2026
The inquest heard sections of the media had been "hounding" the presenter over the alleged assault of Lewis Burton, which she denied.
From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2025
Jenny was sober as she went about her work, and Jethro roamed about the barn and woodlot with deep trouble hounding him.
From "Across Five Aprils" by Irene Hunt
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.
