hoof

[hoof, hoof]

noun

plural

hoofs, hooves, hoof. 

1. the horny covering protecting the ends of the digits or encasing the foot in certain animals, as the ox and horse.

2. the entire foot of a horse, donkey, etc.

3. Older Use.,  a hoofed animal, especially one of a herd.

4. Informal.,  the human foot.

verb (used with object)

1. Slang.,  to walk (often followed byit ).

   Let's hoof it to the supermarket.

verb (used without object)

1. Slang.,  to dance, especially to tap-dance.

   He's been hoofing at the Palladium.

hoof

/ huːf /

noun

1. 1. the horny covering of the end of the foot in the horse, deer, and all other ungulate mammals

   2. ( in combination )

      a hoofbeat

2. the foot of an ungulate mammal

3. a hoofed animal

4. facetious,  a person's foot

5. 1. (of livestock) alive

   2. in an impromptu manner

      he did his thinking on the hoof

verb

1. (tr) to kick or trample with the hoofs

2. slang

   1. to walk

   2. to dance

Other Word Forms

• hoofiness noun
• hoofless adjective
• hooflike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of hoof¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English (noun); Old English hōf; cognate with Old Frisian hōf, Dutch hoef, German Huf, Old Norse hōfr; compare Sanskrit śaphas

Word History and Origins

Origin of hoof¹

Old English hōf; related to Old Norse hōfr, Old High German huof (German Huf ), Sanskrit saphás

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. on the hoof, (of livestock) not butchered; live.

   The city youngsters were seeing lambs on the hoof for the first time.

Example Sentences

Their reconstruction reveals a tall crest running along the neck and torso, a row of spikes down the tail, and hooves that enclosed the toes.

Read more on Science Daily

Nothing could have provided a more suitable host than an area of prairie where native grasses had been scythed away and the ground torn up by metal ploughshares and the hooves of a farmer’s horses.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

This city may be small, but in 1926 it became immortal, the place where a fiesta, thundering hooves, and a novel collided to shape modern legend.

Read more on Salon

He was supposed to run in the Juvenile but he suffered a deep bruise in his left front hoof.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

They got their reward with a goal, Dane Murray panicking and hoofing the ball into his own net instead of making a clearance that should have been routine.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• paw