Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An old English measure of land, usually the amount held adequate for one free family and its dependents.
  • noun The skin of an animal, especially the thick tough skin or pelt of a large animal.
  • transitive verb To beat severely; flog.
  • idiom (hide nor hair) A trace; a vestige.
  • intransitive verb To put or keep out of sight or away from notice.
  • intransitive verb To prevent the disclosure or recognition of; conceal.
  • intransitive verb To cut off from sight; cover up: synonym: block.
  • intransitive verb To avert (one's gaze), especially in shame or grief.
  • intransitive verb To keep oneself out of sight or notice.
  • intransitive verb To seek refuge or respite.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To cover with or as with hide.
  • To beat; flog; thrash.
  • noun In old English law, a holding of land, the allotment of one tenant; a portion of land considered to be sufficient for the support of one family, but varying in extent in every district according to local custom and the quality of the soil, hence variously estimated at 60, 80, and 100 acres, or more.
  • noun The skin of an animal, especially of one of the larger animals: as, the hide of a calf; the thick hide of a rhinoceros.
  • noun An animal's skin stripped from its body and used as a material for leather or in other ways: as, a raw hide; a dressed hide; in the leather trade, specifically, the skin of a large animal, as an ox or a horse, as distiuguished from Kips, which are the skins of small or yearling cattle, and skins, which are those of smaller animals, as calves, sheep, goats, seals, etc.
  • noun The human skin: now in a derogatory sense.
  • noun Synonyms Pelt, etc. See skin, n.
  • To conceal from sight; prevent from being seen; cover up: as, to hide one's face; to hide a stain or a scar.
  • To conceal from discovery; secrete; put in a place of security or safety: as, to hide money.
  • To conceal from knowledge or cognizance; keep secret; hold back from avowal or disclosure; suppress: as, to hide one's feelings.
  • To withdraw; withhold; turn aside or away.
  • Synonyms Secrete, etc. (see conceal); screen, cover, cloak, veil, shroud, mask, disguise, suppress, dissemble.
  • To withdraw from sight; lie concealed; keep one's self out of view.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To lie concealed; to keep one's self out of view; to be withdrawn from sight or observation.
  • intransitive verb a play of children, in which some hide themselves, and others seek them.
  • noun The skin of an animal, either raw or dressed; -- generally applied to the undressed skins of the larger domestic animals, as oxen, horses, etc.
  • noun The human skin; -- so called in contempt.
  • noun An abode or dwelling.
  • noun A measure of land, common in Domesday Book and old English charters, the quantity of which is not well ascertained, but has been differently estimated at 80, 100, and 120 acres.
  • transitive verb Prov. Eng. & Low, U. S. To flog; to whip.
  • transitive verb To conceal, or withdraw from sight; to put out of view; to secrete.
  • transitive verb To withhold from knowledge; to keep secret; to refrain from avowing or confessing.
  • transitive verb To remove from danger; to shelter.
  • transitive verb to put one's self in a condition to be safe; to secure protection.
  • transitive verb to withdraw favor.
  • transitive verb To withdraw favor from; to be displeased with.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To put (something) in a place where it will be harder to discover or out of sight.
  • verb intransitive To put oneself in a place where one will be harder to find or out of sight.
  • noun A medieval land measure equal to the amount of land that could sustain one free family; usually 100 acres. Forty hides equalled a barony.
  • noun countable The skin of an animal.
  • noun countable (mainly British) A covered structure from which hunters, birdwatchers, etc can observe animals without scaring them.
  • noun uncountable, informal One's own life or personal safety, especially when in peril.
  • verb To beat with a whip made from hide.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun body covering of a living animal
  • verb be or go into hiding; keep out of sight, as for protection and safety
  • verb prevent from being seen or discovered
  • verb cover as if with a shroud
  • verb make undecipherable or imperceptible by obscuring or concealing

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English hīd; see kei- in Indo-European roots.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English hȳd; see (s)keu- in Indo-European roots.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English hiden, from Old English hȳdan; see (s)keu- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English hȳd, from Proto-Germanic *hūdiz (cf. West Frisian hûd, Dutch huid, German Haut), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keu-t- 'skin, hide' (cf. Welsh cwd ("scrotum"), Latin cutis ("skin"), Lithuanian kutys ("purse, money-belt"), Ancient Greek κύτος (kýtos, "hollow vessel"), σκῦτος (skŷtos, "cover, hide"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keu-, 'to cover'. More at sky.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English hiden, huden, from Old English hȳdan ("to hide, conceal, preserve"), from Proto-Germanic *hūdijanan (“to conceal”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keudh- (“to cover, wrap, encase”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keu- (“to cover”). Cognate with Low German (ver)hüden, (ver)hüen ("to hide, cover, conceal"), Welsh cuddio ("to hide"), Ancient Greek κεύθω (keúthô, "to conceal"), Sanskrit  (kuharam, "a cave"). Related to hut and sky.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English hide, from Old English hīd, hȳd, hīġed, hīġid ("a measure of land"), for earlier *hīwid (“the amount of land needed to support one family”), a derivative of Proto-Germanic *hīwaz, *hīwō (“relative, fellow-lodger, family”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱei- (“to lie with, store, be familiar”). Related to Old English hīwisc ("hide of land, household"), Old English hīwan ("members of a family, household"). More at hewe, hind.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word hide.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Contronymic in the sense: surface (e.g., cowhide) vs. hidden inside.

    January 27, 2007

  • old unit of land area equal to 120 acres

    January 10, 2018