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).

• (US) enPR: ho͝of, ho͞of, IPA^(key): /hʊf/, /huːf/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːf, -ʊf

hoof (plural hooves or hoofs)

2. The tip of a toe of an ungulate such as a horse, ox or deer, strengthened by a thick keratin covering.
   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2:

     […] I ſee
     Th’ Inſulting Tyrant prancing o’er the Field
     Strow’d with Rome’s Citizens, and drench’d in Slaughter,
     His Horſe’s Hoofs wet with Patrician Blood.

4. (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.

6. (geometry, dated) An ungula.
7. The heel of a loaf of bread.

• hoofed

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

• hoove

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

• IPA^(key): /ɦʊə̯f/

• Audio:

  (file)

hoof (plural hoofde)

1. head

• Hoff (Eupen)
• haof
• hoaf (Southeast Limburgish)
• Hooef (Krefeld)

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)