hound

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 *ḱuntós (compare Latvian sùnt-ene (“big dog”), enlargement of Proto-Indo-European *ḱwṓ (“dog”) (compare Old Irish cú (“dog”), Tocharian B ku, Lithuanian šuõ, Armenian շուն (šun), Russian сука (suka)). Doublet of canine. hound.]]

noun

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.
   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. 1996, Marc Parent, Turning Stones, Harcourt Brace & Company, page 93
   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. 2004, Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper, Simon & Schuster,, page 483
4. (by extension) A male who constantly seeks the company of desirable women.
   "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." 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?" […]
5. A despicable person.
   'You blackmailing hound,' the parrot said distinctly, in what Hodges recognized as General Derby's voice. Anstruther turned pale. 1973, Elizabeth Walter, Come and Get Me and Other Uncanny Invitations
6. A houndfish.

Etymology 2

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

verb

1. (transitive) To persistently harass.
   He hounded me for weeks, but I was simply unable to pay back his loan.
   More pertinently for the plot, another marked difference from history is that the United Kingdom of this 1982 is precociously computerised. Instead of having been hounded to death for his homosexuality, the scientist Alan Turing is thriving and lauded. 2019-04-11, Marcel Theroux, “Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan review – intelligent mischief”, in The Guardian
2. (transitive) To urge on against; to set (dogs) upon in hunting.
   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. 1897, Andrew Lang, The Book of Dreams and Ghosts, page 162

Etymology 3

tableFrom Middle English hownde, hount, houn, probably from Old Norse húnn, from Proto-Germanic *hūnaz.

noun

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