different between hound vs buff

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ha?nd/
• Rhymes: -a?nd

Etymology 1

From Middle English hound, from Old English hund, from Proto-West Germanic *hund, from Proto-Germanic *hundaz. Cognate with West Frisian hûn, Dutch hond, Luxembourgish Hond, German Hund, German Low German Hund, Danish hund, Faroese hundur, Icelandic hundur, Norwegian Bokmål hund, Norwegian Nynorsk hund, and Swedish hund), from pre-Germanic *?untós (compare Latvian sùnt-ene (“big dog”), enlargement of Proto-Indo-European *?w? (“dog”) (compare Welsh cwn (“dogs”), Tocharian B ku, Lithuanian šuõ, Armenian ???? (šun), Russian ???? (suka). Doublet of canine.

Noun

hound (plural hounds)

1. A dog, particularly a breed with a good sense of smell developed for hunting other animals.
2. Any canine animal.
3. (by extension) Someone who seeks something.
   • 1996, Marc Parent, Turning Stones, Harcourt Brace & Company, ?ISBN, page 93,

     On the way out of the building I was asked for my autograph. If I'd known who the signature hound thought I was, I would've signed appropriately.

   • 2004, Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper, Simon & Schuster, ?ISBN, page 483

     I still do not know if he's taken on this case because he's a glory hound, because he wants the PR, or if he simply wanted to help Anna.

4. (by extension) A male who constantly seeks the company of desirable women.
   • 1915, Norman Duncan, "A Certain Recipient", in Harper's, volume 122, number 787, December 1915, republished in Harper's Monthly Magazine, volume 122, December 1915 to May 1916, page 108,

     "Are you alone, Goodson? […] I thought, perhaps, that the […] young woman, Goodson, who supplanted Mary?" […]

     "She had a good many successors, John."

     "You are such a hound, in that respect, Goodson," said Claywell, "and you have always been such a hound, that it astounds me to find you—unaccompanied."

5. A despicable person.
   • 1973, Elizabeth Walter, Come and Get Me and Other Uncanny Invitations

     'You blackmailing hound,' the parrot said distinctly, in what Hodges recognized as General Derby's voice. Anstruther turned pale.

6. A houndfish.

Usage notes

• In more recent times, hound has been replaced by Modern English dog but the sense remains the same.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English hounden, from the noun (see above).

Verb

hound (third-person singular simple present hounds, present participle hounding, simple past and past participle hounded)

1. (transitive) To persistently harass.
2. (transitive) To urge on against; to set (dogs) upon in hunting.
   • 1897, Andrew Lang, The Book of Dreams and Ghosts (page 162)

     We both thought we saw what had the appearance to be a fox, and hounded the dogs at it, but they would not pursue it.

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English hownde, hount, houn, probably from Old Norse húnn, from Proto-Germanic *h?naz.

Noun

hound (plural hounds)

1. (nautical, in the plural) Projections at the masthead, serving as a support for the trestletrees and top to rest on.
2. A side bar used to strengthen portions of the running gear of a vehicle.

Anagrams

• Duhon, Hudon, hundo, no duh

Middle English

Alternative forms

• honde, hounde, hund, hunde, hond, hownd, hownde, hwond

Etymology

From Old English hund

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hu?nd/, /hund/

Noun

hound (plural houndes or hounden)

1. dog, hound (The canid Canis lupus familiaris)
   1. A pet dog; a dog kept for companionship.
   2. A hunting or sporting dog; a hound.
   3. (specifically) A male or fully-grown dog.
2. A strong term of abuse, especially used against enemies of one's religion
3. (rare) A heraldic portrayal of a dog.
4. (rare) The forces of evil; the infernal army.
5. (rare) Sirius (star)

Usage notes

The general word for "dog" is hound; dogge is vaguely derogatory and has a sense of "mongrel" or "cur".

Derived terms

• hound fysch
• hounden
• houndesberye
• houndestonge

Descendants

• English: hound
  • Northumbrian: hoond, hund
• Scots: hoond, hund

References

• “h?und, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-11.

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b?f/
• Rhymes: -?f

Etymology 1

From buffe (“leather”), from Middle French buffle (“buffalo”).

Noun

buff (countable and uncountable, plural buffs)

1. Undyed leather from the skin of buffalo or similar animals.
   • c. 1589, William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, Act IV, Scene 2,^[1]

     […] he’s in a a suit of buff […]

2. A tool, often one covered with buff leather, used for polishing.
3. A brownish yellow colour.
   • 1693, John Dryden (translator), The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis Translated into English Verse, London: Jacob Tonson, Satire 10, lines 307-308, p. 203,^[2]

     […] a Visage rough,

     Deform’d, Unfeatur’d, and a Skin of Buff.

   • 1929, Dashiell Hammett, Red Harvest, Chapter 24,^[3]

     His face changed from tan to buff.

4. A military coat made of buff leather.
   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     A diuell in an euerla?ting garment hath him ; / On who?e hard heart is button’d vp with ?teele : / A Feind, a Fairie, pittile??e and ruffe : / A Wolfe, nay wor?e, a fellow all in buffe […]

5. (informal) A person who is very interested in a particular subject; an enthusiast.

   He’s a real history buff. He knows everything there is to know about the civil war.

6. (video games, role-playing games) An effect that makes a character or item stronger.

   I just picked up an epic damage buff! Let's go gank the other team!

7. (rail transport) Compressive coupler force that occurs during a slack bunched condition.
8. (colloquial) The bare skin.

   to strip to the buff

   • 1857, Thomas Wright, Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English, London: Henry G. Bohn, p. 265,^[4]

     To be in buff, is equivalent to being naked.

9. The greyish viscid substance constituting the buffy coat.
10. A substance used to dilute (street) drugs in order to increase profits.
    • 2014, “Aldergrove’s 856 gang busted, $400,000 in drugs seized,” CBC News, 30 July, 2014,^[5]

      Police say this 20 ton hydraulic jack was used to press mixtures of cocaine and “buff” into brick.

Derived terms

• in the buff
• buffery
• buffhood
• buffism

Synonyms

• (an enthusiast about a particular subject): aficionado
• (video games): revamp

Antonyms

• (video games): debuff, nerf

Translations

Adjective

buff (comparative buffer or more buff, superlative buffest or most buff)

1. Of the color of buff leather, a brownish yellow.
2. (bodybuilding) Unusually muscular. (also buffed or buffed out)

   The bouncer was a big, buff dude with tattoos, a shaved head, and a serious scowl.

   • 1994, Blurred Boundaries: Questions of Meaning in Contemporary Culture, page 155:

     The appearance of logic often derives from faulty syllogisms such as Sgt. Koon's conclusion that King was an ex-con because he was "buffed out" (heavily muscled). The thinking is: "ex-cons are often buffed out; this man is buffed out; therefore, this man is an ex-con."

3. (slang) Physically attractive.

Derived terms

• buff-tip moth
• buffly
• buffster

Translations

Verb

buff (third-person singular simple present buffs, present participle buffing, simple past and past participle buffed)

1. To polish and make shiny by rubbing.

2. (video games, role-playing games) To make a character or an item stronger.

3. (medical slang) To modify a medical chart, especially in a dishonest manner.

Derived terms

• buff out
• buff up
• buff wheel

Synonyms

• (to make smooth and shiny by rubbing): wax, shine, polish, furbish, burnish

Antonyms

• (video games): debuff, nerf

Translations

See also

• Appendix:Colors

Etymology 2

Old French bufer (“to cuff, buffet”). See buffet (“a blow”).

Verb

buff (third-person singular simple present buffs, present participle buffing, simple past and past participle buffed)

1. To strike.

Noun

buff (plural buffs)

1. (obsolete) A buffet; a blow.

Derived terms

• blind man's buff

Etymology 3

Clipping of buffalo.

Noun

buff (countable and uncountable, plural buffs)

1. (informal) A buffalo, or the meat of a buffalo.
   • 2006, Bradley Mayhew, Joe Bindloss, Stan Armington, Nepal

     […] diced buff (buffalo) meat, usually heavily spiced […]