hough

From Middle English hough, houȝ, hoch, howghe, from Old English hōh (“heel, hough”), from Proto-Germanic *hanhaz (“heel”). Doublet of hoo.

The regular modern English development would be /hʌf/, /haʊ/; this has been replaced by /hɒk/, originating in the compound huxen (also *hoxen), from Old English hōhsinu.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /hɒk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /hɑk/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /hʌf/[1]
• Rhymes: -ɒk
• Homophone: hock

hough (plural houghs)

1. Alternative form of hock (“the hollow behind the knee”)
   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:

     In the bright light, lightened and cooled in limb, he eyed carefully his black trousers, the ends, the knees, the houghs of the knees.

2. Alternative form of hock (“tarsal joint of a digitigrade quadruped”)

hough (third-person singular simple present houghs, present participle houghing, simple past and past participle houghed)

1. Alternative form of hock (“to hamstring”)
   • 1866, Charles Kingsley, chapter 25, in Hereward the Wake, London: Nelson, page 337:

     Far and wide the farms were burnt over their owners’ heads, the growing crops upon the ground; the horses were houghed, the cattle driven off; while of human death and misery there was no end.

• hamstring, hock, hox

• See Thesaurus:disable

• hougher

See hoe (“agricultural tool”).

As hoe.

hough (plural houghs)

1. Obsolete spelling of hoe

hough (third-person singular simple present houghs, present participle houghing, simple past and past participle houghed)

1. Archaic spelling of hoe.
   • 1748, James Thomson, The Castle of Indolence, K:LV

     Better the toiling Swain, oh happier far!

     Perhaps the happieſt of the Sons of Men!

     Who vigorous plies the Plough, the Team, or Car;

     Who houghs the Field, or ditches in the Glen,

     Delves in his Garden, or ſecures his Pen.

From Middle English ho, howe, hogh, from Old English hōh (“a promontory”).

hough (plural houghs)

1. Alternative form of hoe

From Old English hōh (“heel”), from Proto-West Germanic *hą̄h, from Proto-Germanic *hanhaz. Compare hele (“heel”).

• ho, hoche, hogh, hoȝ, hokke, hoo, houȝ, houe, howe, howghe, howh

• (regular development) IPA^(key): /huːx/
• (from inflected forms) IPA^(key): /hoː/
• (generalised from Old English hōhsinu) IPA^(key): /hɔx/, /hɔk/

hough (plural houghes)

1. The heel (rear of a foot)

   Synonym: hele

2. The hough (bend of the knee)
3. The hock or its meat.

• hokschyne

• English: hough, hoff, hock
• Scots: hoch, houch
• ⇒ Yola: houghany

• “hough, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

From Old English hōh (“promontory”), related to hōn (“to hang”). Reinforced by unrelated Old Norse haugr (“hill, mound”).

• ho, hogh, hoghe, how

• IPA^(key): /hoː/, /huːx/

hough

1. promontory, cliff

• English: heugh; hoe, hogh, hough, how
• Scots: heuch

• “hough, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.