| / English Dictionary |
HOOF
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected form: hooves
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The foot of an ungulate mammal
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("hoof" is a kind of...):
animal foot; foot (the pedal extremity of vertebrates other than human beings)
Meronyms (parts of "hoof"):
hoof (the horny covering of the end of the foot in ungulate mammals)
toe (forepart of a hoof)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "hoof"):
cloven foot; cloven hoof (a hoof divided into two parts at its distal extremity (as of ruminants or swine))
horse's foot (the hoof of a horse)
Holonyms ("hoof" is a part of...):
hoofed mammal; ungulate (any of a number of mammals with hooves that are superficially similar but not necessarily closely related taxonomically)
Sense 2
Meaning:
The horny covering of the end of the foot in ungulate mammals
Classified under:
Nouns denoting animals
Hypernyms ("hoof" is a kind of...):
horny structure; unguis (any rigid body structure composed primarily of keratin)
Holonyms ("hoof" is a part of...):
hoof (the foot of an ungulate mammal)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Dance in a professional capacity
Classified under:
Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing
Hypernyms (to "hoof" is one way to...):
dance; trip the light fantastic; trip the light fantastic toe (move in a pattern; usually to musical accompaniment; do or perform a dance)
Domain category:
dance (an artistic form of nonverbal communication)
Domain usage:
argot; cant; jargon; lingo; patois; slang; vernacular (a characteristic language of a particular group (as among thieves))
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s
Derivation:
hoofer (a professional dancer)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Walk
Example:
let's hoof it to the disco
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming
Hypernyms (to "hoof" is one way to...):
walk (use one's feet to advance; advance by steps)
Domain usage:
colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP
Sentence example:
The children hoof to the playground
Context examples:
As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses’ hoofs and grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the bell.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Look here; to gain some real affection from you, or Miss Temple, or any other whom I truly love, I would willingly submit to have the bone of my arm broken, or to let a bull toss me, or to stand behind a kicking horse, and let it dash its hoof at my chest—Hush, Jane! you think too much of the love of human beings; you are too impulsive, too vehement; the sovereign hand that created your frame, and put life into it, has provided you with other resources than your feeble self, or than creatures feeble as you.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The frozen particles of ice, brushed from the blades of grass by the wind, and borne across my face; the hard clatter of the horse's hoofs, beating a tune upon the ground; the stiff-tilled soil; the snowdrift, lightly eddying in the chalk-pit as the breeze ruffled it; the smoking team with the waggon of old hay, stopping to breathe on the hill-top, and shaking their bells musically; the whitened slopes and sweeps of Down-land lying against the dark sky, as if they were drawn on a huge slate!
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
He would bark and dance about in front of the bull, just out of reach of the great antlers and of the terrible splay hoofs which could have stamped his life out with a single blow.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
At this moment there was a clatter of hoofs upon the road, and a varlet by the door cried out that one of the Englishmen was coming back.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He had got for himself a hoof and part of the shin-bone, to which quite a bit of meat was attached.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Amid the droning of the wind there had come the stamping of a horse’s hoofs, and the long grind of a wheel as it rasped against the curb.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I was forced to wait above an hour for the tide; and then observing the wind very fortunately bearing toward the island to which I intended to steer my course, I took a second leave of my master: but as I was going to prostrate myself to kiss his hoof, he did me the honour to raise it gently to my mouth.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
I was still turning and tossing when I heard the sound of flying hoofs coming down the London Road, and immediately afterwards the grating of wheels as they pulled up in front of the inn.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
You shall sojourn at Paris, Rome, and Naples: at Florence, Venice, and Vienna: all the ground I have wandered over shall be re-trodden by you: wherever I stamped my hoof, your sylph's foot shall step also.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
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