Meaning & use
foxhound
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
a medium-sized dog with a strong sense of smell, bred to hunt foxes in a pack.
Grammar: Countable: a foxhound, two foxhounds.
Patterns
- a pack of foxhounds
- an English foxhound
- an American foxhound
The hunter kept a pack of foxhounds for the autumn season.
Foxhounds have long ears and a loud, deep bark.
She adopted a retired foxhound that had never learned to live indoors.
Word forms
| plural | foxhounds |
|---|
Common combinations
- a pack of foxhounds
- A pack of foxhounds followed the scent across the field.
- English foxhound
- The English foxhound is slightly heavier than the American type.
- American foxhound
- American foxhounds were developed for hunting in open country.
- breed foxhounds
- The family has bred foxhounds for generations.
Synonyms and how they differ
- hound
- A general word for any dog bred to hunt by scent; a foxhound is one specific type of hound.
Commonly confused: foxhound or fox? foxhound or fox terrier?
foxhound vs fox
A fox is the wild animal that foxhounds hunt; a foxhound is the dog, not the animal.
foxhound vs fox terrier
A fox terrier is a small, lively dog once used to chase foxes out of holes; a foxhound is much larger and hunts by scent in a pack.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'foxhound' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A foxhound is a dog kept in packs for hunting, so 'a pack of foxhounds' is correct. It is not a wild animal, not a horse you ride, and not a bird.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “foxhound”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.