hound / hound/ • n. a dog of a breed used for hunting, esp. one able to track by scent. ∎  any dog. ∎  a person who avidly pursues something: he has a reputation as a publicity hound. ∎ inf., dated a despicable or contemptible man. ∎  used in names of dogfishes, e.g., nurse hound, smooth hound.• v. [tr.] harass or persecute (someone) relentlessly: a tenacious attorney general who had hounded Jimmy Hoffa and other labor bosses his opponents used the allegations to hound him out of office. ∎  pursue relentlessly: he led the race from start to finish but was hounded all the way by Phillips.PHRASES: ride to hounds see ride.ORIGIN: Old English hund (in the general sense ‘dog’), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch hond and German Hund, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek kuōn, kun- ‘dog.’

hound dog (also fig.) OE.; dog kept for the chase XIII. OE. hund = OS. hund (Du. hond), OHG. hunt (G. hund), ON. hundr, Goth. hunds :- Gmc. *χundaz, f. IE. k̂un-, repr. by (O)Ir. cú, Gr. kúōn, Lith. šuō, Skr. śvá, and (obscurely) rel. to L. canis.