bearhound

English

14th century bearhounds at work

Etymology

bear +‎ hound

Alternative forms

bear hound, bear-hound

Noun

bearhound (plural bearhounds)

1. A dog used for bearbaiting or bear hunting.
   • 1887, Thomas Wallace Knox, The Boy Travellers in the Russian Empire, Chapter 11:

     "For his amusement John the Terrible used to order a number of people to be sewed up in bear-skins, and then torn to death by bear-hounds. For tearing prisoners to pieces he ordered the tops of several trees to be bent down so that they came together; the limbs of the unfortunate victim were fastened to these tops, each limb to a different tree. When they were thus tied up, the release of the trees performed the work intended by the cruel Czar."

   • 1918, Melville Davisson Post, Uncle Abner: Master of Mysteries, Chapter 5text=There seemed no overt reason, old Clayborne said, but presently Dabney began to act like a man in fear. He made friends with the dog, a big old bearhound. He got a fowling piece and set it up by the head of his bed, and finally took the dog into ​the room with him at night. He kept out of the house by day.:

References

• “bearhound”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.