greyhound

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English grehound,^[2][3] also greihund and grihond,^[4][5] inherited from Old English grīghund,^{[2][3][6][7][8]} in Anglian greghund,^[9] a compound of a first element grīg- and hund (“dog”), the source of hound.^[2][3][9][7] The first element corresponds to Old Norse grey (“bitch”),^{[6][7][10][11]} and the whole word to greyhundr;^[6][11][5] its further origin is unknown.^[7][10][9] Ayto reconstructs it as an unrecorded Old English word for a bitch.^[12] It has nothing to do with grey, although it was later assimilated to the colour word by folk etymology and by analogy with other animal names in grey;^{[6][12][5][13]} the OED thinks a derivation of the Norse word from the base of grey very doubtful,^[6] while Merriam-Webster allows that the first element is perhaps related to grǣg (“grey”).^[3] Some Middle English forms were apparently conformed to Grew (“Greek”), from Old French Griu.^[9][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The swift, slender hunting dog: in Old English, about 1000 in Barnhart,^[4] where the OED's first record is the Cleopatra Glossary.^[6] Barnhart's first Middle English form is greahunt, probably before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named the dog, used for coursing and hunting by sight and in modern times for racing.^[6][3][14] Since the 16th century it has also covered related breeds,^[6][3] and since 1830 a person or thing as sleek or swift as the dog.^[6] In 1843 Thackeray used it of a fast ship, and ocean greyhound became a name for the fast liners of the late 19th and early 20th centuries;^[6] in American underworld slang ocean greyhounds were also gamblers who fleeced passengers on those liners.^[15] The silver greyhound worn by Foreign Office messengers (1747) and the trade name of the American bus line (1922) are later uses.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Old English grīghund, the hunting dog.^[4][6]
• c. 1220 – Middle English greihund.^[4]
• before 1586 – any of several varieties of greyhound or similar dogs.^[6]
• 1747 – the silver greyhound badge of a Foreign Office messenger.^[6]
• 1825 – a hammock with thin bedding (nautical, obsolete by 1867).^[6]
• 1830 – a person or thing likened to a greyhound.^[6]
• 1843 – a fast ship, later an ocean liner built for speed.^[6]
• 1922 – the Greyhound bus service.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tall, slender, smooth-coated dog of an ancient breed, very fast and keen-sighted, used for coursing and racing.^[11][3][6]
2. Any of several related breeds that resemble it, such as the whippet or saluki.^[3][6]
3. (historical) A fast ocean liner; an ocean greyhound.^[6]

Verb

1. Of a hooked fish, to leap and dive alternately at high speed.^[3]

Word family

• Italian greyhound

Related words

• hound
• grey

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
12. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com