hoof - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Proto-West Germanic *hōf

Old English hōf

Middle English hof

English hoof

Inherited from Middle English hof, houf, houve, hove, from Old English hōf, from Proto-Germanic *hōfaz (compare West Frisian hoef, Dutch hoef, German Huf, Danish hov, Norwegian hov, Swedish hov), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱoph₂ós (compare Sanskrit शफ (śaphá, “hoof, claw”), Avestan 𐬯𐬀𐬟𐬀 (safa, “hoof”), possibly Czech, Polish kopyto).

Hooves of a horse.

hoof (plural hooves or hoofs)

  1. The tip of a toe of an ungulate such as a horse, ox or deer, strengthened by a thick keratin covering.
  2. (slang, derogatory) The human foot.
    Get your hooves off me!
    • 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 110:
      He is a huge man, six feet four on bare hoofs and composed of two hundred and seventy pounds of solid bone and muscle.
  3. (geometry, dated) An ungula.
  4. The heel of a loaf of bread.

tip of a toe of ungulates

hoof (third-person singular simple present hoofs, present participle hoofing, simple past and past participle hoofed)

  1. To trample with hooves.
  2. (colloquial) To walk.
  3. (informal) To dance, especially as a professional.
  4. (colloquial, football (soccer), transitive) To kick, especially to kick a football a long way downfield with little accuracy.
    Synonym: boot

From Dutch hoofd, Middle Dutch hovet, from Old Dutch hōvit, from Proto-Germanic *haubudą. Doublet of sjef.

hoof (plural hoofde)

  1. head

From Middle Dutch hof, from Old Dutch hof, from Proto-West Germanic *hof, from Proto-Germanic *hufą.

hoof m

  1. garden (an outdoor area containing one or more types of plants)